China's robot half-marathon came with plenty of chaos — and one broken record

• China's humanoid robot half-marathon produced a record-breaking run.
• Still, falls and mishaps during the race drew attention and laughs.
• A robot was carried off on a stretcher, while another had engineers in pursuit.

China once again staged a half-marathon for humanoid robots. It delivered a record — and plenty of chaos.

A robot from Chinese smartphone and gadget maker Honor clocked 50 minutes and 26 seconds at the event in Beijing on Sunday, according to a WeChat post by the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area.

That time beats the current human half-marathon world record set by Uganda's Jacob Kiplimo, who finished in 57 minutes and 20 seconds last month.

Honor's robot's performance is a leap forward from the inaugural race last year, when the fastest robot took 2 hours, 40 minutes, and 42 seconds to finish. Participation also surged from about 20 teams to more than 100 this year.

The race wasn't just about speed — it delivered plenty of comic moments. Clips circulating on social media captured the messier side of the half-marathon.

In a video posted on Instagram on Sunday, one robot stumbled at the starting line, crashing face-first and breaking apart on impact. Its limbs were scattered across the track.

Staff rushed in with a stretcher, gathering the pieces in a scene that resembled a first-aid effort.

"Helpppp why did they run over and put it on a stretcher im CRYING," one user wrote in a comment on the Instagram post.

Another Instagram video showed the Honor robot veering into a barricade late in the race. It recovered and kept going to the finish line, while engineers jogged behind, clutching control devices.

"Dudes were really trying to keep up with that thing," a user commented on the post.

On X, compilations of robots falling and malfunctioning during the marathon went viral. In one video posted by @SilviusBerthold, robots were seen crashing into barricades, collapsing mid-run, and twitching on the track.

China has been racing to develop and deploy humanoid robots, even experimenting with integrating AI agents such as OpenClaw.

In a January earnings call, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that the biggest rivals to Optimus would likely come from China.

Still, mishaps involving Chinese robots have continued to make headlines. In February, a humanoid robot from XPeng flopped face-first during a public showcase. XPeng CEO He Xiaopeng likened the moment to "children learning to walk."

In another incident earlier this year, a humanoid robot developed by Unitree kicked an engineer in the groin during a test.

Despite these hiccups, Sunday's humanoid robot half-marathon shows just how far China's robotics industry has come in the past year.

Not only did a robot beat a human for the first time in a half-marathon, but there were also dozens of robot finishers this year versus just six of the 21 robotic contestants who finished the inaugural 2025 race.

The Chinese government has made humanoid robotics a major component of its latest five-year economic plan, and bionic bipeds from Chinese firm Unitree wowed audiences at the country's annual Spring Festival Gala in February with displays of acrobatic kung-fu.

So far, the push to dominate the new frontier of robotics is paying off. Chinese firms accounted for over three-quarters of all humanoid robotics shipments last year, according to data from consultancy firm Omdia.