Humanoid robots joined thousands of runners in a Beijing half-marathon. Photo: XinhuaHumanoid robots ran along with thousands of human participants in a recent half-marathon in Beijing.
The event was an opportunity to showcase China’s technological strength.
According to Chinese media reports, 21 humanoid robots were put to the test along the 21km (13-mile) route. Among the participants were machines from private firms and universities such as Tsinghua.
Video footage from the state news agency Xinhua showed several human-sized robots running with the competitors.
One of them, the size of a small child, was dressed in a bright silver and blue suit and wore headphones.
The race allowed manually and semi-manually controlled robots, as well as fully autonomous ones, to compete. Some of those taking part used the race to test their artificial intelligence (AI) systems.