The Bank of China Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge Half Marathon will open priority registration on Thursday and has added a 10km event to increase competitor numbers to 10,000. The platinum-level race, scheduled for November 15, aims to attract top international runners.
Chinese smartphone component suppliers are transitioning their expertise to the burgeoning humanoid robotics sector as the mobile market decelerates. Honor, which entered robotics only last year, saw its Lightning robot break a human world record by over six minutes, partly due to smartphone cooling technology transfer that kept the motor cool after running 21km. Major suppliers including Lingyi iTech, Lens Technology and AAC Technologies supplied structural components for Honor's D1 robot, signaling a new growth curve for electronics manufacturers.
Chinese smartphone component suppliers are transitioning their expertise to the burgeoning humanoid robotics sector. Honor entered the market last year with its Lightning robot, which broke the human world record by over six minutes, partly due to smartphone cooling technology adapted for robotics. Major suppliers including Lingyi iTech, Lens Technology and AAC Technologies now supply structural components for Honor's D1 model.
Santiago Vergara says he wanted to run the Ballarat half-marathon in his stilts because he loves the art, and loves running. The 33-year-old was told by Guinness World Records if he does the stilt-stunt in under three-hours, he could nab himself a record.
Santiago Vergara, 33, says he wanted to run the Ballarat half-marathon on his stilts because he loves the art, and loves running.
Humanoid robots competed in Beijing's half-marathon on April 19, with Honor's winning robot completing the 21km course in 50 minutes and 26 seconds—beating the human world record of 57:20 set by Ugandan runner Jacob Kiplimo. The event featured 300 robotic contestants from about 100 teams, up from last year's 2:40 fastest time, demonstrating rapid improvements in autonomous robot speed and endurance. The victory is notable given Honor only entered robotics in 2025, outpacing established Chinese robotics companies like Unitree.
Honor unexpectedly won the second Beijing humanoid half-marathon with its Lightning model finishing in 50:26, beating competitors Unitree and X-Humanoid. The Huawei spin-off, which only entered robotics last year, credited its success to structural durability, self-developed electric motors and liquid cooling systems adapted from smartphone tech. Alibaba's mapping unit Amap also debuted a quadruped robot called Tutu, as Beijing seeks to drive growth in the robotics sector.
An autonomous robot named Lightning developed by smartphone company Honor won Beijing's half-marathon on Sunday, completing the 13-mile race in 50 minutes and 26 seconds - faster than the human world record of 57 minutes and 20 seconds. The robot, with 90-95 cm legs mimicking elite human runners and liquid cooling technology from smartphones, beat all 12,000 human competitors. Last year, only 6 of 21 robots finished the race.
The winner from a Chinese smartphone maker reportedly completed the 21-kilometre race in 50 minutes and 26 seconds.
The winner from a Chinese smartphone maker reportedly completed the 21-kilometre race in 50 minutes and 26 seconds.
The winner from Honor, a Chinese smartphone maker, completed the race in 50 minutes and 26 seconds, running faster than the human world record in a show of China's technological leaps.
The winning time is a massive improvement over last year’s race, when the fastest robot finished in two hours and 40 minutes.
Dozens of Chinese humanoid robots competed in a half-marathon in Beijing on April 19, 2026, with the winning robot crossing the finish line in 50 minutes and 26 seconds—faster than the human world record of 57:31 set by Jacob Kiplimo. The event marked a stark improvement from last year, when the champion robot took over 2 hours and 40 minutes. Nearly half of this year's entrants navigated the 21km course autonomously using AI, compared to last year's remote-controlled machines.
The winner of a robot half-marathon held in Beijing on Sunday smashed the human world record by more than six minutes in the latest display of the industry’s rapid development. The humanoid device, known as Lightning, was developed by the Chinese smartphone and gadget company Honor, which only entered the sector last year. Its finishing time of 50 minutes 26 seconds was far quicker than the men’s world record of 57:20 held by the Ugandan runner Jacob Kiplimo and around 17 minutes faster than the...
Winning robot records faster time than Jacob Kiplimo’s world record More than 100 robots run in parallel tracks to avoid collisions with humansDozens of Chinese-made humanoid robots showed off their fast-improving athleticism as they whizzed past human runners in a half-marathon race in Beijing on Sunday, having lagged far behind a year earlier.The race’s inaugural edition last year was riddled with mishaps, as many robots struggled to get off the starting line, and most were unable to finish. Continue reading...
