BEIJING, April 19 (Xinhua) -- How much have humanoid robots improved their half-marathon performance in just one year?

At the 2026 Beijing E-Town half-marathon on Sunday, a humanoid robot named "Flash" from Shenzhen Honor Smart Technology Development Co., Ltd. finished ahead of all human runners, claiming victory in 50 minutes and 26 seconds in autonomous navigation mode and bettering the human world record of 57:20.

The men's half-marathon world record was set by Uganda's Jacob Kiplimo at the Lisbon Half Marathon in Portugal last month. One week ago, Wang Wenjie clocked China's best half-marathon time of 1:01:15 at the Beijing Half Marathon.

On the same date last year, humanoid robot Tiangong Ultra won the inaugural E-Town half-marathon in two hours, 40 minutes and 42 seconds, with only six of the 20 competing teams completing the 21.0975-kilometer race.

The second edition of the E-Town half-marathon largely followed last year's rules, with robots and human runners using the same route but separate lanes to ensure safety, while the number of participating teams rose to more than 100.

A new competition format this year introduced two participation modes, remote control and autonomous navigation. For teams in remote-control mode, finishing times were multiplied by a coefficient of 1.2. About 40 percent of the teams, including the champion, adopted autonomous navigation in pursuit of better results.

"The race functions as a test platform. The setting of coefficient aims to guide and encourage the research and development of autonomous navigation, which represents a technological foundation for humanoid robots to be applied in more scenarios in our daily life towards future," explained Liang Liang, deputy secretary-general of the Chinese Institute of Electronics.

The robots' performance highlighted the rapid development of China's robotics industry and the broader global trend.

"The battery needed to be replaced for five to six times last year to complete the half-marathon. Each time took three to four minutes, and entire robot system had to be restarted," Xing Boyang, chief technical officer of Humanoid Robot (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., said. "This year, battery can be changed in 10 seconds without restart."

Progress was also evident in heat dissipation. "Last year, the temperature of many core joints reached 70 to 80 degrees Celsius. But now, with water and wind cooling system, the temperature can be maintained around 60 degrees Celsius," Xing said.

This year's E-Town half-marathon also attracted international teams from countries including Germany, France and Brazil.

Julio Rogelio Guadarrama Olvera, technical visionary and lead strategist of the Hail Mary Project from the Technical University of Munich, said he was impressed by the rapid growth of the humanoid robotics industry.

"The robots are developing really fast in China with big improvement from the previous year to this year," Olvera said. "We see more autonomous and water cool robots in very competitive speeds. Still with many crashes, but most of them can recover to continue and finish the race."

Olvera added, "It was one of our concerns that the robot could overheat, but it performed great. So we just focused on managing the battery life."

Since the first edition of the race, organizers have aimed to turn the event into a platform where participating teams can communicate, learn from one another and accelerate the development of the robotics industry through joint efforts.

"Through half-marathon, the public can better understand humanoid robots and welcome them into this real world," Liang remarked.

"The relationship between human runner and robot is not one replacing the other, but mutually promoting each other to reach a better stage," said Chinese runner Zhao Haijie, who finished first among the human runners at the 2026 E-Town half-marathon in one hour, seven minutes and 47 seconds.

For human marathon events, organizers generally try to keep courses flat and simple to aid performance. For robots, however, route design is far more demanding.

Specifically, the robot route incorporated more than 10 road types, including slopes, curves and narrow sections. The aim was to test endurance, stability, power control and energy-management efficiency.

On Saturday, E-Town also staged a Robot Warrior Challenge, described as a Spartan Race for robots. In training scenarios simulating natural disasters and emergency rescue, robot dogs jumped, climbed slopes and moved through pipes, while humanoid robots sidestepped and avoided swinging obstacles.

"Robots with unique advantages in size and fitness can help people complete more seemingly impossible tasks," said Tang Jian, chief technical officer of Beijing Innovation Center of Humanoid Robots.

According to a report by MarketsandMarkets, a global market research and consulting company, the global humanoid robot market is projected to grow from 2.92 billion U.S. dollars in 2025 to 15.26 billion U.S. dollars by 2030.

Growth is being driven by rising adoption of humanoid robots in personal assistance, caregiving and healthcare, along with increasing use in manufacturing, retail and logistics to augment the workforce.

"Humanoid robot half-marathon is taken as a window to witness technological development. Robots don't compete for the sake of running," Liang said. "Firstly, we attracted enterprises, research institutions, secondary developers and overseas teams to participate. Then, we form a competitive mechanism to promote breakthroughs."

"Most importantly, we call on all stakeholders to keep supporting the transformation of humanoid robot development achievements into actual benefits in our life," Liang added. "Avoid a flash in the pan."