An autonomous humanoid robot from Honor officially won the 2026 Beijing E-Town humanoid half marathon on Sunday, finishing the 21-kilometer course in 50 minutes and 26 seconds under the event's published weighted scoring rules.

Remote-Controlled Robot Crossed First, Autonomous Robot Took the Title

AP and CGTN both reported that a separate Honor robot running in remote-controlled mode reached the finish line first in 48:19. But the race applied different coefficients to autonomous and remote-controlled entries, so the autonomous Honor robot was awarded the championship with the official winning time of 50:26.

That still put the robot ahead of the current human half-marathon world record, which multiple reports placed at just over 57 minutes after Jacob Kiplimo's March run in Lisbon. The improvement from last year's inaugural robot race was dramatic: the 2025 winner needed 2 hours, 40 minutes and 42 seconds to finish.

Fast Progress, With Limits Still Visible

The race also showed how early the field still is. AP reported that about 40% of the entrants navigated autonomously, while the rest were remotely controlled. Several robots struggled with the course, including one that fell at the start and another that hit a barrier.

Even so, the result matters. Beijing's event was designed to test endurance, balance, and route handling on real roads rather than in a short demo. A robot beating elite human pace under competition rules does not mean humanoids are ready for mass deployment, but it does suggest that locomotion and battery management are improving much faster than they were a year ago.