- Founder says upcoming race could mark performance breakthrough
- Industry still pre-inflection point despite rapid advances
Humanoid robots could soon outpace human runners in endurance races, according to Unitree Robotics founder and CEO Wang Xingxing.
Speaking at the 2026 China Internet Media Forum in Zhengzhou, capital of northern China’s Henan Province, on March 29, Wang also said several robotic entrants are expected to complete a half marathon in under one hour at an upcoming competition in Beijing — a pace faster than most human athletes.
Wang said the humanoid robot half marathon scheduled for April 19 in Beijing’s Yizhuang tech park may demonstrate how quickly embodied AI capabilities are advancing, with fully autonomous robots set to compete without human intervention.
The prediction follows Unitree’s strong results at the 2025 World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing, where the company’s H1 robots won multiple track events including the 1,500-meter race, achieving times within the six-minute range.
Following the Games, Wang pledged that the company would return to the Yizhuang race this year with robots capable of entirely autonomous running.
Beyond competition, Wang framed the event as a milestone for embodied intelligence — the integration of AI with physical robotic systems — though he cautioned the industry has not yet reached a true tipping point.
What excites him most, he said, is not current product maturity but the pace of annual technological improvement.
He predicted the sector’s equivalent of a “ChatGPT moment” could arrive within two to three years, when robots are able to complete roughly 80% of tasks in unfamiliar environments through simple voice instructions.
This scenario could potentially accelerate adoption across industrial and consumer applications, he said.
