China’s First Robot Marathon Runners Trip, Emit Smoke, Fall Apart

Some of China’s best humanoid robots took on the challenge of racing against human marathon runners on Saturday. One fell at the starting line. Another’s head fell off and rolled on the ground. And one collapsed and broke into pieces.

In what was billed as the world’s first half-marathon for androids, just four out of 21 robotic runners completed the race in Beijing’s southern tech hub of E-Town within the allotted four hours. The winner was five-foot-ten Tiangong Ultra, who made it to the finish line in two hours and 40 minutes, far behind the hourlong performance of the human gold medalists. It took more than three hours for the other three bots that managed to complete the 13 mile (20.9 kilometer) course to come in.