New rules defined for world's 1st humanoid robot half-marathon

China has defined new competition rules for the world's first humanoid robot half-marathon as part of the Beijing E-town half-marathon set to be held on Sunday.

The groundbreaking event marks a major milestone in the development of embodied AI and humanoid robotics.

Spanning over 21 kilometers, the half-marathon will require participating bipedal robots to execute approximately 250,000 precise joint movements.

Most of the participating bipedal robots will have their batteries replaced or even be fully replaced during the competition.

According to the competition rules, any robot that does not change its batteries at the supply station will receive a time penalty. Replacing a robot entirely during the competition will also incur a time penalty.

"The competition adopts a comprehensive timing method to calculate the final scores of participating teams, which is determined by subtracting any penalty time for rule violations from the total time taken from the starting point to the finish line. This could bring about the scenario where the first robot to reach the finish line may not necessarily be ranked the first in the final standings," said Wang Guolin, deputy head of the robot group of the half-marathon race.

The medals for the competition made their first debut on Wednesday. Participating bipedal robots can receive their medals as long as they complete the race within three and a half hours.