On April 19, 2025, the world's first humanoid robot half marathon will start in Yizhuang, Beijing. This competition also verified the old saying: "Insiders see the essence, while outsiders see the spectacle". The Internet is full of remarks, such as "the humanoid robot has disenchanted", "the humanoid robot is wrestling", and "the robot old lady is walking in the half-marathon race...... It's more or less a lively mentality. In fact, industry talents know that it is not easy, which can definitely be regarded as a "humanoid robot college entrance examination", and it is already a victory to be able to participate.
In the end, the Tiangong team of Beijing Humanoid Robot Innovation Center Co., Ltd. won the championship with a time of 2 hours, 40 minutes and 42 seconds with the Tiangong Ultra robot. The 1.2-meter-tall Songyan Power N2 Little Naughty Team won the runner-up, and the Walker No. 2 robot from Shanghai Zhuoyide Robot Co., Ltd. won the third place for the Walker No. 2 team.
This is not only an important demonstration of robotics technology, but also marks the rise of China in the global robotics industry. Twenty-one teams from Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong, Ningxia and other places gathered together to demonstrate China's technological breakthroughs and innovation in this emerging field. The starting point of the race is located at the south gate of the first phase of Nanhaizi Park, and the end point is located in Tongming Lake Information City, with a total distance of 21.0975 kilometers, passing through complex and changeable terrain, and the event also sets up a number of corners, which puts forward extremely high-performance requirements for the participating robots.
This competition is not only a simple speed competition, but also a comprehensive test of the technical performance of humanoid robots in many aspects. Among them, various indicators such as exercise ability, autonomous decision-making ability, energy management ability, stability and safety, and human-machine collaboration ability have become important criteria for judging the performance of robots.
Pictured: The top three of the world's first humanoid robot half marathon
Ⅰ The multi-dimensional test of the performance of humanoid robots in the competition
1. Athleticism: Stability and speed are equally important
On the 21-kilometer track, the first challenge for the robot is to maintain a high running speed and endurance. Team Tiangong's "Tiangong Ultra" (the champion of this competition) became the champion of the event with its outstanding athletic performance. By optimizing the motion control algorithm, the robot can travel stably on complex terrain, with a measured average speed of 10 km/h and a maximum running speed of 12 km/h, which greatly improves the robot's performance on the track. This achievement demonstrates China's innovative progress in the field of robot motion control.
In addition to speed, stability is also crucial. The undulating ground and sharp turns in the race require the robot to have excellent balance and flexibility. The gait control of the robot and the stability of the motion accuracy are the core competitiveness of the development of robot technology.
2. Self-decision-making ability: environmental perception and path planning
Autonomous decision-making capability is an important dimension to measure the performance of humanoid robots in complex environments. In this competition, although all the participating robots were accompanied by technicians, the robots still faced complex and changeable track environments during the race, and needed to have strong autonomous decision-making capabilities to ensure smooth travel in changing track conditions.
For example, Tsinghua University's "Kuavo" robot applied a reinforcement learning framework in the competition to optimize the path planning and decision-making process, and significantly improved its adaptability in complex terrain. Although Kuavo relies on real-time guidance and intervention from technicians during the competition, its movement efficiency and intelligent decision-making ability still reflect the potential of autonomous decision-making by robots. Through continuous learning and training, Kuavo is better able to cope with undulating terrain and reduce the risk of collisions or falls.
This performance highlights a key direction for the future development of robotics: with the improvement of machine vision, deep learning and real-time data processing capabilities, robots will be able to handle more complex environmental changes without relying on human intervention, and autonomously carry out path planning and decision-making. This breakthrough will be an important step in driving future humanoid robots to practical applications, especially in dynamic environments and unpredictable conditions, where robots can act truly autonomously.
3. Energy management capability: long-term efficient operation
A 21-kilometer marathon poses a serious challenge to the robot's endurance. Running for long periods of time requires not only an efficient battery management system, but also the robot's ability to efficiently distribute energy during movement to ensure enough power to support the entire race.
"Walker No. 2" robot (the third runner-up in this competition)., from Team Walker 2, is the first legged robot in history to successfully complete a 100-kilometer walk, and its performance is excellent. In this competition, the endurance of Walker 2 is also amazing, and it can continue to run for more than 6 hours, fully demonstrating China's technological breakthrough in the field of robotic energy management. The ability to operate stably for a long time in complex terrain shows that China's robotics industry has strong R&D strength in energy management and battery technology.
4. Security and stability: Hardware and software are synergistically guaranteed
In long competitions, robots not only have to face the challenges of complex environments, but also have to withstand the extreme test of hardware equipment. The stability and safety of the robot is an important factor in the success of the event, especially during a fast run, and how the robot responds to external interference or sudden obstacles has a direct impact on its performance.
The little urchin N2 robot (the runner-up in this competition) of Songyan Power adopts an optimized ankle ball bearing structure, which strengthens the impact resistance of the core components, and can withstand dozens of falls during training without affecting performance. This design effectively reduces the impact force in motion and improves the stable performance of the robot in long-term high-intensity exercise. At the same time, the N2 robot is also equipped with self-developed high-torque density joints (≥150N·m), and uses new composite materials to reduce weight, while improving explosive power and stability, so that it has the ability to perform precise actions in complex environments. This technological breakthrough represents the cutting-edge level of Chinese robots in hardware design, and also provides valuable experience for the application of future robots in complex environments.
5. Human-robot collaboration: Inclusion with human athletes
The competition also highlighted the ability to collaborate between robots and human-athletes, requiring robots to be able to understand instructions and complete the competition together with humans. For example, the "Daywalker" robot of the Daywalker team used deep reinforcement learning algorithms to combine the stability of traditional control with the flexibility of machine learning algorithms, and demonstrated good human-machine collaboration capabilities in the competition. Through deep learning, Daywalkers are not only able to cooperate with humans, but also constantly adjust their behavior on the track, demonstrating the robot's ability to adapt in complex scenarios.
Ⅱ The situation of participating robots and the current situation of China's industry
Among the 21 teams participating in the competition, several robots performed well, demonstrating China's great potential in the field of robotics. For example, Tiangong Ultra won the championship with its outstanding performance, demonstrating China's technological superiority in the field of motion control and autonomous decision-making. However, some robots are still insufficient in dealing with complex terrain and motion accuracy, indicating that there is still room for improvement in some technical aspects of the Chinese humanoid robot industry.
China's humanoid robot industry has made remarkable progress in recent years. China has made a series of breakthroughs in the fields of robot hardware manufacturing and motion control algorithm development, especially in robot gait control, environmental perception and motion accuracy, etc., which have gradually narrowed the gap with the international advanced level. However, the world's leading robotics companies, such as Boston Dynamics (USA) and SoftBank Pepper (Japan), still occupy a leading position in terms of market share, brand awareness, and depth of technology research and development.
Despite this, China's robotics industry is gradually establishing a complete innovation ecosystem by strengthening industrial chain coordination and increasing investment in technology research and development. In the future, with the breakthrough of core technology and the maturity of the industrial chain, it is expected that China's humanoid robot industry will occupy a more important position in the global market.
Figure: Information on the world's first humanoid robot half marathon team
Ⅲ Comparison of the global humanoid robot market
The global market for humanoid robots is growing rapidly. The United States and Japan started earlier in this field, and companies such as Boston Dynamics and SoftBank's Pepper Robotics have accumulated a lot of market experience and have an advantage in technology R&D investment, product commercialization and market share.
In contrast, although China's robot industry is developing rapidly, its share in the global market is still relatively small, and the international influence of the brand needs to be improved. The robot industry in Europe pays more attention to the deep integration with the manufacturing industry, and many robots have been widely used in industrial manufacturing, logistics and automation. China still needs to strengthen the comparison with the international advanced level in terms of manufacturing accuracy, the adaptability of robots to complex environments, and the integration of technologies for cross-domain applications.
Ⅳ Summary and outlook
The first Global Humanoid Robot Half Marathon provides a new platform for the development of China's robotics technology, and also accelerates the global recognition of China's robotics industry's innovation capabilities. With continuous technological breakthroughs, China is becoming increasingly competitive in this field, especially in the areas of motion control, energy management, and human-machine collaboration.
In the future, with the deep integration of artificial intelligence, robotics and semiconductor technology, humanoid robots will play an important role in more fields, such as smart home, medical care, education and entertainment. China's robot industry needs to increase investment in basic research, break through key core technologies, strengthen industrial collaborative innovation, and continuously promote the development and application of robot technology. By improving manufacturing accuracy, optimizing algorithms, and expanding cross-domain applications, China is expected to occupy an important position in the global humanoid robot market and promote the future development of the global robot industry.
