Human-like Robots In China Participate In The Running Competition, Can Smile And Blink!

JAKARTA - A total of 21 humanoid robots took part with thousands of human runners at the Yizhuang Half Marathon event in Beijing on Saturday 19 April. This marks the first time this type of robot has participated in a 21-kilometer race alongside humans.

The robots come from various Chinese manufacturers such as DroidUP and Noetix Robotics, with various designs "some shorter than 120 cm, while others as high as 1.8 meters. One company even boasts of its robot that has a human-like appearance, complete with feminine features, can blink, and smile.

Several companies have been testing their robots for weeks before the race. The Beijing government calls this event more like car racing, as it requires support from engineering and navigation teams.

These robots run very well and stably... I feel I am witnessing the evolution of robots and artificial intelligence (AI), said He Sishu, an audience working in the AI sector.

Each robot is accompanied by a human coach, and some of them must be physically assisted during running. Several robots were seen wearing running shoes, one of which was wearing boxing gloves, while another robot wore a red headband that reads 'Definitely Win' in Mandarin characters.

The winning robot is Tiangong Ultra, made by the Beijing Innovation Center of Human Robotics, with a time of 2 hours 40 minutes more than double the fastest male runners who finish the race in 1 hour 2 minutes.

The innovation center where Tiangong Ultra is developed is owned by 43% by two state-owned companies. The rest is jointly owned by the robotic arm of technology giant Xiaomi and China's leading humanoid robot company, UBTech.

According to Tang Jian, the CTO of the innovation center, Tiangong Ultra's performance was helped by long legs and algorithms that mimic the way humans run in marathon competitions.

"I don't want to boast, but I don't think there is a robotic company in the West that can match Tiangong's sports achievements," Tang said, adding that the robot only replaced the battery three times during the race.

Some Robots Fail To Perform Maximum

Although Tiangong Ultra managed to finish the race, several other robots had difficulties from the start. One robot fell at the start and lay for a few minutes before bounce back. There was also a robot that hit the fence after only running for a few meters, even causing the human operator to fall along.

Previously, humanoid robots had indeed appeared in marathons in China, but this is the first time they have really competed with human runners.

China hopes that investment in frontier technology sectors such as robotics will drive new economic growth. But some experts doubt whether this kind of competition can reflect the true industrial potential of humanoid robots.

Alan Fern, professor of computer science, AI, and robotics from Oregon State University, thinks that although this competition is interesting, the software to make humanoid robots run has actually been developed more than five years ago.

Chinese companies do focus on demonstrations such as walking, running, dancing, and other agility. But that hasn't proven that these robots can do useful work or show basic intelligence," said Fern.

Even so, Tang stated that the focus in the future of their innovation center is on implementing humanoid robots for industrial needs, so that they can actually enter factories, the business world, to households.