【Expert Opinion】Yu Shu Wang Xingxing: Next month, many robots may run faster than humans in competitions, and half-marathon times could be under one hour.

（Source: Robot Global News）

March 29 news, according to Red Star News, at the 2026 China Network Media Forum on site today, Wang Xingxing, founder of Unitree Technology, shared his prediction: “In next month’s Beijing robot marathon, many robots may run faster than humans; the half marathon could be completed in under one hour.”

Regarding the athletic ability of humanoid robots, Wang Xingxing said that in August last year, Unitree Technology participated in the 2025 World Humanoid Robot Sports Meet held in Beijing, winning multiple championships in the 1500 meters, 400 meters, 4×100 meters relay, and 100 meters hurdles events, with the 1500 meters time already entering the 6-minute range.

He said that next month, at the half marathon for humanoid robots held in Yizhuang, Beijing, humanoid robots from multiple companies will “run faster than humans,” and in the half marathon event, they will run in under 1 hour.

IT Home noted that the 2026 Beijing Yizhuang Half Marathon will officially fire the starting gun on April 19, and for the first time will introduce an “human-robot co-running” innovative mode, with 12,000 human runners competing in the same arena with intelligent robots.

The event sets up an autonomous navigation division and a remote-control division. It will use a mixed timing method for competition on the same track. For autonomous navigation teams, the official finish result will be calculated as the race net time plus penalty time; for remote-control teams, the finish result is initially set as the race net time multiplied by a coefficient of 1.2, plus penalty time. At the same time, strict rules require that remote-navigation operators do not get out of the vehicle unless necessary, and personnel are not followed; from the rules level, the event encourages and guides more teams to achieve autonomous completion, promoting breakthroughs for robots in core capabilities such as environmental perception, real-time decision-making, and sustained stable motion.

Tang Jian, from the Beijing Humanoid Robot Innovation Center, said that this year the participating teams’ target is directly aimed at the human half-marathon championship record, with efforts to break into the 1-hour barrier. This practical training camp is mainly for university teachers and students, and will provide comprehensive support including the general-purpose robot platform “Ju Tiangong” and the general-purpose embodied intelligence platform “Hui Si Kaiwu,” with the hope of building an open-source ecosystem.

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