By Eduardo Baptista
BEIJING (Reuters) – Beijing has postponed a half marathon originally scheduled for Sunday in which humanoid robots will race alongside human runners, a milestone designed to showcase China’s advances in a frontier industry the country is intent on dominating.
The 2025 Beijing Yizhuang Half Marathon was postponed to April 19 due to forecasts of very strong winds for this weekend, according to a statement published on Thursday by the event’s organizers.
While they did not say whether the conditions were more of a danger to robot or human runners, humanoid robots are likely to be more at risk of tipping over in windy weather due to the lack of training data for the scenario, according to experts.
The race will be held in an area of Beijing that hosts more than 100 robotics companies and a 10 billion-yuan ($1.36 billion) government fund for their development, according to the deputy director of the area’s management committee, Li Quan.
“The marathon is not only a challenge of physical endurance for robots but also a test of breakthroughs in artificial intelligence by the development teams,” Li said in a press conference last month.
Rising wages and a slowing economy are making robots more attractive to Chinese companies aiming to limit labour costs and leverage technology to grow.
And as China’s adoption of AI rapidly increases following the success of startup DeepSeek, it has seen a surge of investment in humanoid robots and their industrial applications.
While humanoid robots have appeared in previous editions of the Yizhuang Half Marathon, this year they are expected to run the entire course for the first time, with awards for those running the farthest without being subbed out or having their batteries replaced.
The robots participating in the race must appear human-like, including in their running and walking motions, and must complete the half marathon within 3 hours and 30 minutes.
Participating firms have begun testing their robot runners in Beijing, according to state broadcaster CCTV.
“Teams must ensure that the robots do not damage the track, other robots, or surrounding people,” Li said.
“In order to enhance the technological atmosphere of the event, the opening ceremony will be hosted by robots.”
($1 = 7.3297 Chinese yuan renminbi)
(Reporting by Eduardo Baptista; Editing by Joe Bavier)
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