Dozens of humanoid robots disputed this Saturday (19), in Beijing, the first half marathon in the world for Androids, a symbol of Chinese ambitions in the field of new technologies.
The event, organized at “e-Town”, an area of technological development of the Chinese capital, sought to test the limits of these machines that could take human tasks in society in the future.
Along the 21 kilometers of the route, there were some setbacks.
A small android, which at first fell to the floor, then managed to stand under the public’s acclamation. Another, designed with transformer appearance, deviated from the trajectory and collided with a barrier.
Scenes that human participants, who ran on a separate track, immortalized with their smartphones.
The first robot to cross the finish line after 2 hours, 40 minutes and 42 seconds was the largest android of the competition. Called “Tiangong Ultra”, it measures 1.80 meters and weighs 52 pounds.
By way of comparison, the winner of the test in meat and bone took 1 hour, 2 minutes and 32 seconds to complete it, according to an official press vehicle.
Tang Jian, the director of technology at the Beijing Humanoid Robot Innovation Center, an institution that created “Tiangong Ultra”, told press to feel “very pleased.”
“We had three goals: stay first, complete the half marathon with a single robot […] And finish the race in less than three hours, “he said.
“We collect data from professional runners and train the robot to adapt to their step, its cadence, their step -ons and posture to get as much as possible to an athlete,” he explained.
“Impressive”
The Beijing Humanoid Innovation Center was created by the central government and authorities of the capital and it participates two private technology companies – Xiamoi Robotics and Ubtech Robotics – and two public companies, according to Tianyancha, Chinese database on business information.
Several spectators watched this Saturday’s half marathon.
“My daughter […] I wanted to wake up soon to see “The competition, said Huang Xiaoyu, a 38 -year -old family mother.
“It’s really impressive, you can see the best in the field of Chinese robots,” he added.
About 20 teams from all over China participated in the race, with androids up to 88 pounds.
“Running on a track may seem like a small step to a human being. But for a humanoid robot is a huge leap,” he told AFP last Thursday, Liang Liang, deputy director of the E-Town Management Committee.
“This marathon is a step more towards the industrialization of humanoid robots,” he said.
Some ran autonomously and others were controlled at a distance.
“Formidable impulse”
The engineers explained to AFP that the goal was to test the performance and reliability of androids. Crossing the finish line was the priority, they said.
“The sector has few opportunities to run these machines like this, in full performance, with this distance and this duration. It is a demanding proof for batteries, engines, structure and also the algorithms,” said Cui Wenhao, 28 -year -old engineer at Chinese company Noetix Robotics.
This half marathon “is a formidable momentum for the entire industry of robotics,” he said.
“The idea is that humanoid robots can actually integrate into human society and begin to accomplish tasks that humans perform,” said Kong Yichang, 25, engineer at Droidup.
China, the second world economy, aims to reach the leadership of artificial intelligence and robotics, in a direct challenge to the United States, which currently wages a trade war.
Chinese companies, especially private, get an increasingly better performance in the new technologies sector.
Proof of this is the emerging company Deepseek, which caused international sensation in January with a conversational AI robot that, according to those responsible, was developed at an infinitely lower cost to American competitors such as ChatgPT.
