Visitors interact with a robot from Unitree Robotics during the sixth China International Consumer Products Expo (CICPE) in Haikou, south China's Hainan Province, April 14, 2026.
Image: Xinhua / Gao Jing
Unitree Robotics announced on Sunday that its H1 humanoid robot autonomously completed a 1.9-kilometre winding course in 4 minutes and 13 seconds in the Beijing humanoid robot half-marathon qualifying round, breaking the human 1,500-metre world record on a proportional calculation.
“The result in the qualifying session, when compared at a constant pace, is equivalent to surpassing the human world record in the 1,500 metres race. Recently, the robot’s peak speed in the 100-metre test run even reached 10 metres per second,” said Huang Jiawei, marketing director of Unitree Robotics.
According to the official website of World Athletics, the men’s outdoor world record for 1,500 metres is 3 minutes and 26 seconds, set in 1998.
Over 100 robot teams competed on the same track in the Beijing humanoid robot half marathon qualifying round held on Thursday, which determined the starting order for the official half marathon on Sunday. Unitree Robotics also sent its robot team to the event.
Unitree Robotics, based in Hangzhou in east China’s Zhejiang Province, showcased its cutting-edge humanoid robots during the Year of the Horse Spring Festival Gala, the world’s most-watched television event, which took place in February.
During this gala, its robots executed complex maneuvers like drunken boxing, backward obstacle avoidance and backflips, underscoring a leap from demonstrating basic mobility to mastering intricate, culturally rich physical artistry.
A recent industry report revealed that Chinese robotics firms emerged as the largest producers of humanoid robots worldwide in 2025, highlighting the country’s rapid rise in this emerging manufacturing sector.
At the 2026 Beijing E-Town Half Marathon, featuring human runners, and humanoid robot half marathon, in which robots competed, both held in China’s capital on Sunday, a humanoid robot developed by a tech firm under Honor Device Co., Ltd. won the championship with a net time of 50 minutes and 26 seconds.
It surpassed the men’s half marathon world record of 57 minutes and 20 seconds set by Ugandan star Jacob Kiplimo at the Lisbon Half Marathon in March this year.
The year 2026 has been eyed as a critical turning point for the robotics industry, with it moving from simply “handling many tasks with limited proficiency” to truly “accomplishing tasks with high performance and achieving practical application,” said Luo Jianlan, chief scientist at AgiBot.
China has a clear national strategy in its quest to become a global robotics powerhouse, with this endeavour boosted by its robust industrial ecosystems, fast iteration cycles and large-scale deployment capacity.
Xinhua