On Saturday, Beijing hosted what’s being called the world’s first humanoid half-marathon—a footrace that pitted human runners against human-like robots. While technologically impressive, the outcome of the event should reassure those who fear robots will one day overrun humanity—because it appears they won’t be outrunning us any time soon.
Twenty-one humanoids of various shapes and sizes raced among thousands of humans, closely followed by their operators. But just six of the robots successfully reached the finish line, reports Wired’s Zeyi Yang. To participate in the race, the robots had to run on two legs, like humans. However, the participating tech companies and universities were allowed to bring their robots in for battery-replacing pit stops, like racecars. Sometimes they even replaced the whole robot with a new one, though this warranted a time penalty, as reported by CNN’s Chris Lau.
Content retrieved from: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/humanoid-robots-just-raced-alongside-human-runners-in-a-world-first-half-marathon-heres-how-it-went-180986469/.
