By Prof Dr Ian Blackshaw
It has been reported that robots have competed in a half marathon race in Beijing on 19 April 2026.
The winning robot, named Lightning, was developed by Honor, the Chinese smartphone maker, and completed the race in 50 minutes and 26 seconds.
This was 7 minutes faster than the world record for the half marathon, which was set by Jacob Kiplimo of Uganda, in March of this year in Lisbon, with a time of 57 minutes and 20 seconds.
Around 40% of the robots raced independently, whilst the rest of them were remotely controlled.
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