At 7:30 a.m. on the 19th (local time), a park in Yizhuang (亦庄), Beijing, packed with 12,000 marathoners. As the music signaling the start of the half marathon played and the starting call rang out, thousands of front-runners set off at once.
What stood out more than the marathoners was a red humanoid robot, "Shandian (闪电)," sprinting ahead at an overwhelming speed. Hidden by the crowd and unseen at the starting line, Shandian vanished from sight about 10 seconds after the start. True to its name, which means lightning, it streaked down the track, and the stands erupted in gasps of surprise at the far faster-than-expected pace. Marathoners on the track slowed their steps, pulled out their phones, and snapped photos.
Afterward, 104 humanoids crossed the starting line at roughly 30-second intervals. Multiple Shandian units followed in succession, and last year's winning model, Tiangong (天工) from the Beijing Humanoid Robot Innovation Center, as well as a model from China's flagship humanoid firm Unitree (Unitree), also drew notice. Some humanoids sported distinctive wigs, hats, and outfits for flair.
◇ The star this year is "Shandian"… developed by a Huawei spin-off
News of the win came 50 minutes after the race began. It was Shandian, which wowed the crowd with overwhelming speed and stability. The Qitiandasheng (齐天大圣) team completed the 21.0975 kilometers in 50 minutes, 26 seconds via autonomous driving. In pure speed, the Pofeng Shandian (破风闪电) team set a 48-minute mark with the same model, but missed the win because it ran under remote control and was subject to a 20% time weighting penalty.
Second and third place also went to Shandian units, with the Leiting Shandian (雷霆闪电) team and the Xinghuo Liaoyuan (星火燎原) team clocking 50 minutes, 56 seconds and 53 minutes, 01 second, respectively. That more than halves last year's winning time (2 hours, 40 minutes) and is faster than human records. Shandian is a humanoid developed by honor, formerly part of Huawei, standing 169 centimeters tall and featuring Autonomous Driving. It made its debut in this year's event.
◇ Autonomous Driving tech race on a tougher track
In its second year, the event saw striking improvements in both scale and performance compared with last year. Unlike last year, when even finishing was difficult, about half the teams completed the course this year. The number of competing robots rose from just over 20 last year to 105 this year, and 43 teams ran the track via Autonomous Driving. To encourage Autonomous Driving, organizers applied a time-weighting penalty to remote-control teams. The aim was to prioritize the ability to run without human intervention over raw speed.
The track difficulty also increased. In addition to flat asphalt, uphill, downhill, gravel, and grass sections were added, and curves reaching up to 90 degrees were included. As a result, some humanoids that failed cornering fell and could not get up on their own, and were seen being hauled away suspended from small cranes.
The crowd and media buzz were intense. From around 6 a.m., an hour and 30 minutes before the start, hundreds of reporters gathered, and there was jockeying to secure the best sightlines. Broadcasters from regions beyond Beijing, including Shanghai, also came on site. Many influencers in the stands filmed videos with cameras and streamed live in real time.
A teacher leading a student cheering squad to the venue said, "You can feel that public interest has grown significantly compared with last year. Last year it felt like an Yizhuang-only event, but this year it seems to be drawing national attention," adding, "The robots in the competition also appear to have advanced greatly in performance and scale compared with last year. It's encouraging that we can show kids the front lines of scientific and technological progress."