A Chinese humanoid robot outpaced thousands of human runners to win the Beijing E-Town half-marathon on Sunday, smashing the current world record.
The event featured around 12,000 participants and more than 100 robots.
The bright‑red bipedal android named Lightning, developed by Chinese smartphone maker Honor, dominated the race, crossing the finish line ahead of all the human competitors.
It covered the 21.1 km distance in just 50 minutes and 26 seconds, beating the world record for a half‑marathon, set by Ugandan runner Jacob Kiplimo just last month, by nearly 7 minutes.
Robots also took second and third place, while the fastest human to finish the marathon was 29-year-old Zhao Haijie, who ran the race in 1 hour, 7 minutes and 47 seconds.
In a similar race last year, machines had failed to make an impression, with the fastest robot, Tiangong, taking 2 hours and 40 minutes to complete the distance, well behind the human athletes.
