Twenty-one humanoid robots joined hundreds of runners on the Yizhuang half-marathon in Beijing on Saturday, the primary time these machines have raced alongside people over a 21-km (13-mile) course.
The robots from Chinese language producers corresponding to DroidUP and Noetix Robotics got here in all styles and sizes, some shorter than 120 cm (3.9 ft), others as tall as 1.8 m (5.9 ft). One firm boasted that its robotic seemed virtually human, with female options and the flexibility to wink and smile.
Some companies examined their robots for weeks earlier than the race. Beijing officers have described the occasion as extra akin to a race automotive competitors, given the necessity for engineering and navigation groups.
“The robots are running very well, very stable … I feel I’m witnessing the evolution of robots and AI,” mentioned spectator He Sishu, who works in synthetic intelligence.
The robots have been accompanied by human trainers, a few of whom needed to bodily help the machines in the course of the race.
A couple of of the robots wore trainers, with one donning boxing gloves and one other sporting a pink headband with the phrases “Bound to Win” in Chinese language.
The successful robotic was Tiangong Extremely, from the Beijing Innovation Heart of Human Robotics, with a time of two hours and 40 minutes. The lads’s winner of the race had a time of 1 hour and a couple of minutes.
The centre is 43% owned by two state-owned enterprises, whereas tech big Xiaomi’s robotics arm and main Chinese language humanoid robotic agency UBTech have equal share in the remaining.
Tang Jian, chief know-how officer for the robotics heart, mentioned Tiangong Extremely’s efficiency was aided by lengthy legs and an algorithm permitting it to mimic how people run a marathon.
“I don’t want to boast but I think no other robotics firms in the West have matched Tiangong’s sporting achievements,” Tang mentioned, including that the robotic switched batteries simply thrice in the course of the race.
SOME ROBOTS STRUGGLE
Some robots, like Tiangong Extremely, accomplished the race, whereas others struggled from the start. One robotic fell on the beginning line and lay flat for a couple of minutes earlier than getting up and taking off. One crashed right into a railing after operating just a few metres, inflicting its human operator to fall over.
Though humanoid robots have made appearances at marathons in China over the previous yr, that is the primary time they’ve raced alongside people.
China is hoping that funding in frontier industries like robotics may also help create new engines of financial progress. Some analysts, although, query whether or not having robots enter marathons is a dependable indicator of their industrial potential.
Alan Fern, professor of laptop science, synthetic intelligence and robotics at Oregon State College, mentioned opposite to claims from Beijing officers that such a race requires “AI breakthroughs”, the software program enabling humanoid robots to run was developed and demonstrated greater than 5 years in the past.
“Chinese language corporations have actually centered on displaying off strolling, operating, dancing, and different feats of agility.
“Generally, these are interesting demonstrations, but they don’t demonstrate much regarding the utility of useful work or any type of basic intelligence,” Fern mentioned.
Tang, the robotic centre’s CTO, mentioned: “A focus going forward for us will be industrial applications for humanoid robots so they can truly enter factories, business scenarios, and finally households.”
