Humanoid robots were not rivals for human rivals, since they made their debut in the half marathon in the Chinese capital.
The humans took the lead on the robots and kept it easy as they ran to victory in the Yizhuang Marathon in Beijing.
Thousands of runners joined 21 humanoid robot rivals in a 21 km challenge (13 miles, 352 yards) in the Chinese capital on Saturday.
But not all loots were up to the task. One collapsed moments after the starting gun and lay motionless for minutes before recovering his feet. Another crashed into a barrier after just a few steps, knocking down his handle with her.
Some machines made in the finish line, but still followed humans. Tiangong Ultra, developed by the Beijing Innovation Center of Human Robotics, registered a time of 2 hours and 40 minutes. The male winner ended more than an hour before.
“In general, these are interesting demonstrations,” said Alan Fern, a robotics professor at Oregon State University, “but they do not demonstrate much about the usefulness of useful work or basic intelligence.”
“The robots are working very well, very stable … I feel that I am witnessing the evolution of the robots and the AI,” said Sisku, a local AI engineer who observes from the side.
Technically thought of the race, the robots are hiding exactly the autonomous athletes. Each came with a team of engineers, and some needed physical support to stay vertically.
Chinese companies such as Droidvp and Noetix Robotics presented bots in all shapes and sizes, with some even wearing boxing gloves and head bands. Officials like the event to motor racing more than a traditional race.
Tang Jian, CTO of the Tiangong laboratory, said they plan to change the focus on real world’s tasks: “A focus on the future will be industrial applications … so that they can really enter factories, commercial scenarios and finally homes.”