Letter from China: Humanoid robots take first marathon strides in silicon sprint

BEIJING, April 19 (Xinhua) -- The over-21-kilometer half marathon course struck a perfect balance: challenging yet doable for runners of all levels.

As dawn broke on Saturday, I joined participants on a shuttle bus headed to the starting line. The air buzzed with excitement: runners casually swapped personal bests, debated elevation changes and craned their necks for glimpses of pale purple paulownia flowers that had been immortalized in viral videos.

But for one group of competitors, the stakes were far higher. These machine competitors were set to face a grueling test of endurance as they competed in the world's first humanoid robot half marathon, held in the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area (BDA) in the southeast of the city, where the Beijing E-Town innovation hub is located. The silicon racers would soon compete on the same physical route as human runners, though on separate tracks.

The race marked the first long-distance endurance test of these robots in an open environment. Each competing robot had to have a humanoid appearance and be capable of bipedal walking or running. The rules did, however, allow them to undergo maintenance, battery swaps and other procedures at the multiple supply stations set up along the route.

At 7:30 a.m., the starting pistol blasted. Unlike the surge forward that is typically seen at the start of a marathon event, the crowd turned, smartphones aloft, to capture the robots making their first steps across the starting line. Cheers erupted as the androids hit the track, their every step met with shouts of encouragement.

A total of 20 teams from robotics companies, research institutes, clubs and universities participated. Though the robots varied in size, attire and running gait, all pursued the same goal: proving their mettle in this unprecedented trial.

"Think of it as a car rally for robots," said Liang Liang, deputy director of the BDA management committee. The rules of the humanoid robot half marathon closely resembled those of a car rally, Liang noted. Teams combined AI autonomy with human oversight, tackling challenges no machine had quite faced before: uneven pavements, communication drops and the sheer unpredictability of the outdoors.

"The event serves as a validation, testing and demonstration platform, but more importantly, as a space for developers, enthusiasts and companies to exchange ideas," Liang said.

In fact, this race was not without precedent. In 2011, five bipedal robots completed a full marathon in an indoor venue in Osaka, Japan. The roughly 40-centimeter-tall robot runners had to lap a 100-meter track nonstop over 400 times, taking several days to finish.

At the Beijing E-Town half marathon, the Tien Kung Ultra robot developed by the Beijing Humanoid Robot Innovation Center crossed the finish line in just 2 hours and 40 minutes. Noetix's N2 came in second, while a robot designed by Shanghai-based firm DroidUp secured third place.

This wasn't my first encounter with Tien Kung. Last summer, I visited the Beijing Humanoid Robot Innovation Center and interviewed its general manager, Dr. Xiong Youjun.

Humanoid robots are the culmination of AI technology and are poised to become the next disruptive product following computers, smartphones and smart cars. According to Xiong, they are expected to play a crucial role in various application scenarios, such as industrial manufacturing, public services, emergency rescue, health care, elderly care and national defense.

The global humanoid robotics industry is undergoing a period of rapid expansion, with Citi analysts forecasting that the market will reach a scale of 7 trillion U.S. dollars by 2050.

And China, already a key player in the field, is expected to secure a notable share. Market projections suggest that by mid-century, China's humanoid robot market could be worth 6 trillion yuan (about 832.5 billion U.S. dollars), with an estimated 59 million units in operation.

This enormous market scale and vast application scenarios provide China with relative advantages in developing AI. Characterized by high technology, high efficiency and high quality, the embodied AI robotics industry itself represents China's strategy for technology-led growth by unleashing "new quality productive forces."

"This marathon tests our technology's maturity," Xiong said after Tien Kung Ultra claimed victory among the robot competitors, adding that the next step will be to continuously improve the robot's motion control and upper-body manipulation capabilities.

The veteran robotics insider firmly believes that the future will be a society of human-robot coexistence, where robots will truly enter households and become part of human life -- as our friends and good helpers. "This is the significance of this marathon for the future," he said. "Achieving this vision requires the collective efforts of all robot developers, engineers and tech companies."

The race had its share of mishaps. Several robots toppled and crashed shortly after the start, some veered off course instead of running straight, and others malfunctioned midway through. Like marathoners battling cramps, the robots grappled with searing joint temperatures, and where humans steadied their breathing, machines re-calibrated algorithms mid-stride.

Engineers regularly rushed to the scene like football team medics, performing quick repairs before the robots resumed running. Each reboot carried a deeper meaning: Watching the robots stumble, stand back up and continue running, the event commentator couldn't help but remark, "Like last week's wind and last night's rain -- without storms, there would be no rainbow."

Originally set for April 13, the race was postponed due to Beijing's high alert for extreme winds last weekend. Friday brought another day of rain, though it had little impact on the racecourse, fortunately.

Among the spectators was 6-year-old Wang Zhaoge, who lives in Beijing E-Town. "I loved the dancing robots I saw on TV during this year's 'Spring Festival Gala,' and today it feels magical watching robots run just like humans," he said.

"I saw robots running along the course. Some of the smallest ones were surprisingly fast, beyond what I'd imagined," runner Zhang Huihui remarked after the race. "I hope we can see robots at marathons every year, and watch them get faster and faster."

Zhao Fuming, president of the Beijing Marathon Association, noted that more cities may follow suit by combining their industrial strengths and urban culture to launch running events similar to the Beijing E-Town humanoid robot half marathon.

"In the future, robots might not just compete as participants. They could also be featured in themed races, serve as security and first-aiders, and assist in event operations, becoming highlights of such competitions," Zhao said.

Yet some critics online have dismissed the event as a carefully orchestrated tech spectacle rather than a bold innovation attempt.

"The robots on the track behaved more like manipulated puppets than dynamic 'athletes,' which starkly contrasts with the marathon's spirit of independence and pushing limits," one commentator wrote in a sarcastic article.

Yet isn't the ethos of perseverance, personal challenge and boundary-pushing embodied by marathons -- a symbol of human physical and mental endurance -- precisely what the human teams behind these robots continuously strive for and uphold?

When Tanzanian marathon runner John Stephen Akhwari limped across the finish line in last place at the Mexico City Olympic Games in 1968 with a bandage around his leg flapping in the breeze, people witnessed his "superhuman spirit" with their own eyes.

"My country did not send me 5,000 miles to start the race. They sent me 5,000 miles to finish the race," Akhwari said. This quote has since made him one of the most memorable figures in Olympic history.

Doesn't the organizers' motto, "To compete is victory, to finish is glory," resonate with Akhwari's story? Every small step these robots took on the marathon course represented a giant leap for China's technological breakthroughs.

When the robots stood on the starting line, a competition of human wisdom began -- human imagination and dreams started running upon the sound of the starting pistol.

On the shuttle bus home after the race, participants took out their phones to share photos and videos they'd taken of one another. They video-called family members to show off their unique golden medals that can be unfolded into a robot shape, and watched competition footage and discussed whether their favorite robots had completed the route.

I sent my wife a video I'd taken of a robot crossing the finish line. "They should give medals to those three staff members running alongside the robots too," she replied. "They finished the race as well."

I couldn't have agreed more. The human escort, remote pilot and support engineer did run every step.

Every 21-kilometer course will eventually be completed, but humanity will stay on the course of pioneering man-machine symbiosis -- where machines survive with us, and thrive through us.