Humanoid robot half-marathon demonstrates Chinese engineers' perseverance, innovative spirit

The world's first humanoid robot half-marathon took place on Saturday in the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area, allowing the diverse field of Chinese robotic engineering to show their true colors.

Among 20 competing teams, Tiangong Ultra from the Tiangong Team claimed victory in the humanoid half marathon, crossing the finish line first with a time of two hours, 40 minutes, and 42 seconds.

Standing approximately 1.8 meters tall and weighing 55 kilograms, Tiangong Ultra has seen its speed increase from 6 km/h to a peak of 12 km/h this year, while its intelligence was also enhanced using the Huisi Kaiwu platform, a universal embodied intelligence system. During the race, Tiangong Ultra maintained a steady pace of 7-8 km/h.

Just last April, Tiangong debuted as the world's first full-size, purely electric-driven humanoid robot, capable of running only a few hundred meters, according to the National and Local Co-built Embodied AI Robotics Innovation Center, formerly known as the Beijing Innovation Center of Humanoid Robotics, who develops the robot.

The Tiangong Ultra completing the half-marathon represents a monumental leap forward, showing the research team's continuous push for technological advancement.

"When we first heard about a robot running this distance, it seemed impossible. We had never seen anything like it," said Zheng Haohan, a testing engineer at the center.

"The entire iteration and optimization process of the robot body has achieved reliability and stability, which is a great benefit for us and the industry," said Xiao Jian, a robot engineer.

"Tiangong is like our child. It couldn't do anything at first. We had to teach it everything, from standing up to walking and then running. Now, it's more like a partner, using its skills to help us," said Zhao Wen, an algorithms engineer.

"The marathon spirit is about overcoming all kinds of challenges. Our engineers, like so many others in China, are constantly tackling complex problems in technological research and development," said Wei Jiaxing, head of public relations at the center.

Humanoid robot half-marathon demonstrates Chinese engineers' perseverance, innovative spirit

The death toll from a landfill collapse in the central Philippine city of Cebu has risen to eight by Monday morning as search and rescue operations continued for another 28 missing people.

The landfill collapse occurred on Thursday as dozens of sanitation workers were working at the site. The disaster has already caused injuries of 18 people.

Family members of the missing people said the rescue progress is slow, and the hope for the survival of their loved ones is fading.

"For me, maybe I’ve accepted the worst result already because the garbage is poisonous and yesterday, it was raining very hard the whole day. Maybe they’ve been poisoned. For us, alive or dead, I hope we can get their bodies out of the garbage rubble," said Maria Kareen Rubin, a family member of a victim.

Families have set up camps on high ground near the landfill, awaiting news of their relatives. Some people at the site said cries for help could still be heard hours after the landfill collapsed, but these voices gradually faded away.

Bienvenido Ranido, who lost his wife in the disaster, said he can't believe all that happened.

"After they gave my wife oxygen, my kids and I were expecting that she would be saved that night because she was still alive. But the night came and till the next morning, they didn't manage to save her," he said.

Death toll in central Philippine landfill collapse rises to eight