Honor’s robot “Lightning” crosses the finish line during the 2026 Beijing E-Town Half Marathon and Humanoid Robot Half Marathon on April 19. Photos from Xinhua

Humanoid robots from more than 100 teams showcased speed and endurance at the 2026 Beijing E-Town Half Marathon and Humanoid Robot Half Marathon on April 19. The top three positions were taken by teams from Shenzhen-based smartphone maker Honor, using “Lightning,” a robot developed by Honor.

Finishing with a net time of 50 minutes and 26 seconds, the champion robot delivered a standout performance, surpassing the human half-marathon record of 57 minutes and 20 seconds. During the final sprint, “Lightning” collided with a barricade and fell. However, after adjustments by staff, the robot resumed the race and successfully crossed the finish line.

Standing 169 cm tall, “Lightning” features autonomous navigation and a self-developed high-dynamic motion system, enabling high-speed running and strong adaptability across varied terrain.

At Honor’s factory in Pingshan District, Li Zheng, a senior engineer, said that the team built a simulation lab and created a digital material database covering more than 1,000 materials, with each material tested under different conditions. If a robot component shows weaknesses, the team adjusts the code rather than restarting physical builds. Using the simulation system and AI models, the team iterated nearly 30,000 designs in just three months.

Honor’s New Intelligent Manufacturing Industrial Park in Pingshan District. 

Much of the robot’s underlying technology — including batteries, high-precision communication, navigation, cooling, and reliability testing — was already mature from Honor’s smartphone mass production. What appears to be a breakthrough achieved in six months is, the company said, a natural extension of years of consumer-electronics experience.

Building a marathon-running robot requires a complete industrial chain: upstream components (such as high-precision sensors, LiDAR, visual systems, and torque sensors), midstream modules (including motors, decelerators, batteries, and controllers),  and foundational technologies (such as operating systems, control algorithms, and AI models), as well as computing power (such as chips and edge computing).

While many components used to rely on imports, the leading teams in this year’s half-marathon used self-developed technology.

Honor entered two humanoid robots in this year’s half-marathon. The smaller robot, “Yuanqizai,” stands 136.9 cm tall and can interact with people, understand scenes, and perform dances. It will later be deployed in Honor stores for smart retail and tech experiences.

During preparations, officials from Pingshan District helped Honor identify locations for test runs and provided support for charging, commuting, and other aspects.

Honor’s robot “Yuanqizai” competes in the half-marathon for humanoid robots in Beijing on April 19.