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The Robots Are Learning to Run

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In April 2025, something unusual happened on the streets of Beijing. Twenty-one humanoid robots lined up at the starting line of a half marathon, together with thousands of human runners. The robots wore numbered bibs, and some even wore running shoes. The winner among them, a robot called Tiangong Ultra, finished the 21 kilometres in about 2 hours and 40 minutes — much slower than the human champion, but fast enough to make headlines around the world.

A humanoid robot is a machine built to look and move like a person: two legs, two arms, and a head. For decades, such robots existed mostly in science fiction films and research laboratories. Walking on two legs is surprisingly difficult for a machine. Humans learn it as babies and never think about it again, but a robot must calculate its balance hundreds of times per second. If the ground is uneven, or if someone bumps into it, it can easily fall over — and during the Beijing race, several robots did fall, to the amusement of the crowd.

So why are so many companies suddenly investing billions of dollars in these machines? The short answer is work. In many countries, factories and warehouses are struggling to find enough workers, and the population is getting older. A robot that can walk through a building designed for humans, climb stairs, and use tools made for human hands could, in theory, do many different jobs. Unlike the fixed robot arms in today's factories, which repeat one movement forever, a humanoid robot could be reprogrammed for a new task in the morning and a different one in the afternoon.

Some famous names are already in the race. Tesla is developing a robot called Optimus, and its CEO Elon Musk has predicted that robots will one day outnumber people. The Chinese company Unitree sells humanoid robots that are cheap enough for universities and even some hobbyists to buy. Other companies, such as Figure AI in the United States, are testing their robots in car factories, where the machines move boxes and parts from place to place.

However, today's humanoid robots are still far from replacing human workers. Their hands are clumsy compared with ours, and they cannot yet feel how hard they are squeezing an object. Their batteries usually last only two to four hours, and during the marathon, the robots were allowed to stop and change batteries — something human runners obviously cannot do. They are also expensive, and most can only perform simple, repetitive tasks under careful supervision.

There is also a bigger question: what happens to people's jobs? History offers some comfort. When ATMs appeared, many predicted the end of bank clerks, yet banks changed rather than disappeared. Supporters argue that robots will first take over the jobs that are dirty, dangerous, or desperately short of workers. Critics reply that this time may be different, because the new machines aim to copy not just our strength, but our general abilities.

For now, the robots are still learning — to walk without falling, to carry a box without dropping it, and to work safely next to people. The Beijing marathon was not really about sport. It was a public test, and a message: the age of the humanoid robot has begun, even if its first steps are still a little wobbly.