China’s capital city of Beijing is all set to host an interesting half-marathon that will set thousands of human runners against dozens of bipedal robots developed by some of the world’s leading robotics companies.

This coming April, the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area (E-Town) will be hosting an interesting running event for both humans and human-like robots. 12,000 people are expected to take part in the event alongside dozens of bipedal robots developed by major robotics companies, including Tesla, Boston Dynamics and 1X, making this one of the strangest half-marathons in history. Participating robots will need to have a human-inspired appearance, be between 0.5 and 2 meters tall (so no giant mechs allowed), and have the ability to run or at least walk on two legs. The winners, be they human or robot, will receive prize money depending on their performance.

Do the robots have a chance to win against humans? Well, we’ll have to wait until April to find out, but experts say seasoned human runners still have an edge against bipedal robots. The robots’ speeds reportedly range from 8 to 12 km/h, whereas finishing a 21.1-kilometer half-marathon in an hour and a half requires an average speed of 14 km/h. Plus, battery autonomy is likely to be a major factor, as organizers have already announced that battery swapping mid-race is allowed.

This won’t be the first time robots compete in official running events. Last year, Laibo 2, a quadruped robot developed in South Korea, became the first robot to ever complete a full marathon on a single charge. Sadly, it won’t be able to take part in April’s half-marathon, as the event is only open to bipedal robots.

In October of last year, Tiangong, a Chinese-made bipedal robot technically took part in the Yizhuang Half Marathon in Beijing, but really only ran alongside human runners for 100 meters for a photo op. Tiangong will be at the starting line in April as well, hoping to actually run the whole race this time around.

Oddity Central