China is organising the world’s first foot race between humanoids and humans in April, an event that could boost Beijing’s artificial intelligence goals.
The half-marathon, covering a distance of about 21km, is being held in the Beijing Economic Technological Development Area – or E-Town – in the capital’s Daxing industrial district.
E-Town has over 100 companies making robotics core components, complete machines, and relevant applications. It is responsible for about 50 per cent of the city’s production output of nearly 10bn yuan (£1.1bn), according to local authorities.
The event could see nearly 12,000 humans and humanoid robots participate with prizes offered to the top three runners.
Companies, research institutions, robotics clubs and global universities have been invited to enter humanoids in the marathon, district officials said.
The key condition is that all competing robots “must have a humanoid appearance and mechanical structure capable of bipedal walking or running movements”.
Competing robots must be between 0.5m and 2m high, with a maximum extension distance from the hip joint to the foot sole of at least 0.45 m, E-Town officials said in the statement.
Both remote-controlled and fully autonomous humanoids are qualified to compete at the event, which allows batteries for the robots to be replaced in the middle of the race.
“Moving forward, Beijing E-Town will focus on advancing cutting-edge embodied artificial intelligence technologies, industrializing high-end humanoid products, and fostering a top-tier innovation ecosystem,” district officials said.
China is eyeing to develop a complete robotics ecosystem with the industry expected to grow to nearly $54bn (£43.4) by the end of this decade, according to Xinhua state news agency.
A marathon hosted in Beijing last year also saw a humanoid run with humans, but the robot from the Chinese company Galbot appeared in the race only closer to the finish line to cheer the participants, South China Morning Post reported.
The planned event comes amid a global race to create strong artificial intelligence systems, an area in which the US and China have emerged as close competitors.
Last year, US envoys raised concerns over “the misuse of AI” by China in closed-door talks and Washington imposed measures to cut investments in China for the technology.
