No sweat: Humanoid robots run a Chinese half-marathon alongside flesh-and-blood competitors

BEIJING (AP) — In one small step for robot-kind — thousands of them, really — humanoid robots ran alongside actual humans in a half-marathon in the Chinese capital on Saturday.

The bipedal robots of various makes and sizes navigated the 21.1-kilometer (13.1-mile) course supported by teams of human navigators, operators, and engineers, in what event organizers say was a first. As a precaution, a divider separated the parallel courses used by the robots and people.

While flesh-and-blood participants followed conventional rules, the 20 teams fielding machines in the Humanoid Robot Half-Marathon competed under tailored guidelines, which included battery swap pit stops.

The Sky Project Ultra robot, also known as Tien Kung Ultra, from the Tien Kung Team, claimed victory among the nonhumans, crossing the finish line in 2 hours, 40 minutes and 42 seconds.

Awards were also given out for best endurance, best gait design and most innovative form.

A robot demonstrates a backflip after the Humanoid Robot Half-Marathon held in Beijing on Saturday, April 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

The medal for the second runner up is seen during a ceremony for the Humanoid Robot Half-Marathon held in Beijing on Saturday, April 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

The team behind the Sky Project Ultra robot also known as Tien Kung Ultra celebrate after winning the Humanoid Robot Half-Marathon held in Beijing on Saturday, April 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

The Sky Project Ultra robot also known as Tien Kung Ultra is awarded the gold medal after winning the Humanoid Robot Half-Marathon held in Beijing on Saturday, April 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

The Sky Project Ultra robot also known as Tien Kung Ultra crosses the finish line to win the Humanoid Robot Half-Marathon held in Beijing on Saturday, April 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

Children react to four legged robots performing before the award ceremony of the Humanoid Robot Half-Marathon held in Beijing on Saturday, April 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

Children react to a wheeled robot after the Humanoid Robot Half-Marathon held in Beijing on Saturday, April 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

A robot takes part in what is billed as the world's first robot half marathon during the Humanoid Robot Half-Marathon held in Beijing on Saturday, April 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

A robot from DroidUp walks to the award ceremony after winning the second runner up position in the Humanoid Robot Half-Marathon held in Beijing on Saturday, April 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

The crew of a robot reacts as the robot loses control at the start during the Humanoid Robot Half-Marathon held in Beijing on Saturday, April 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

A robot loses control at the start in what is billed as the world's first robot half marathon during the Humanoid Robot Half-Marathon held in Beijing on Saturday, April 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

A robot takes part in what is billed as the world's first robot half marathon during the Humanoid Robot Half-Marathon held in Beijing on Saturday, April 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

A robot attends the Humanoid Robot Half-Marathon held in Beijing on Saturday, April 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

Four legged robots perform before the award ceremony for the Humanoid Robot Half-Marathon held in Beijing on Saturday, April 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

Sky Project Ultra robot crosses the finish line to win the world's first robot half marathon during the Humanoid Robot Half-Marathon held in Beijing on Saturday, April 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

Spectators watch four legged robot performance after the Humanoid Robot Half-Marathon held in Beijing on Saturday, April 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

People watch the Humanoid Robot Half-Marathon held in Beijing on Saturday, April 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

A robot takes part in what is billed as the world's first robot half marathon during the Humanoid Robot Half-Marathon held in Beijing on Saturday, April 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

A robot takes part in what is billed as the world's first robot half marathon during the Humanoid Robot Half-Marathon held in Beijing on Saturday, April 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

The Sky Project Ultra robot also known as Tien Kung Ultra crosses the finish line to win the Humanoid Robot Half-Marathon held in Beijing on Saturday, April 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Two senators from opposite parties are joining forces in a renewed push to ban members of Congress from trading stocks, an effort that has broad public support but has repeatedly stalled on Capitol Hill.

Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Republican Sen. Ashley Moody of Florida on Thursday plan to introduce legislation, first shared with The Associated Press, that would bar lawmakers and their immediate family members from trading or owning individual stocks.

It's the latest in a flurry of proposals in the House and the Senate to limit stock trading in Congress, lending bipartisan momentum to the issue. But the sheer number of proposals has clouded the path forward. Republican leaders in the House are pushing their own bill on stock ownership, an alternative that critics have dismissed as watered down.

“There’s an American consensus around this, not a partisan consensus, that members of Congress and, frankly, senior members of administrations and the White House, shouldn’t be making money off the backs of the American people,” Gillibrand said in an interview with the AP on Wednesday.

Trading of stock by members of Congress has been the subject of ethics scrutiny and criminal investigations in recent years, with lawmakers accused of using the information they gain as part of their jobs — often not known to the public — to buy and sell stocks at significant profit. Both parties have pledged to stop stock trading in Washington in campaign ads, creating unusual alliances in Congress.

In the House, for example, Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida is trying to bypass party leadership and force a vote on her own stock trading bill. Her push with a discharge petition has 79 of the 218 signatures required, the majority of them Democrats.

House Republican leaders are supporting an alternative bill that would prohibit members of Congress and their spouses from buying individual stocks but would not require lawmakers to divest from stocks they already own. It would mandate public notice seven days before a lawmaker sells a stock. The bill advanced in committee on Wednesday, but its prospects are unclear.

Gillibrand and Moody, meanwhile, are introducing a version of a House bill introduced last year by Reps. Chip Roy, a Republican from Texas, and Seth Magaziner, a Democrat from Rhode Island. That proposal, which has 125 cosponsors, would ban members of Congress from buying or selling individual stocks altogether.

Magaziner and other House Democrats, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, wrote in a joint statement Wednesday that they “are disappointed that the bill introduced by Republican leadership today fails to deliver the reform that is needed.”

The Senate bill from Gillibrand and Moody would give lawmakers 180 days to divest their individual stock holdings after the bill takes effect, while newly elected members would have 90 days from being sworn in to divest. Lawmakers would be prohibited from trading and owning certain other financial assets, including securities, commodities and futures.

“The American people must be able to trust that their elected officials are focused on results for the American people and not focused on profiting from their positions,” Moody wrote in response to a list of questions from the AP.

The legislation would exempt the president and vice president, a carveout likely to draw criticism from some Democrats. Similar objections were raised last year over a bill that barred members of Congress from issuing certain cryptocurrencies but did not apply to the president.

Gillibrand said the president “should be held to the same standard” but described the legislation as “a good place to start.”

“I don’t think we have to allow the perfect to be the enemy of the good,” Gillibrand said. “There’s a lot more I would love to put in this bill, but this is a consensus from a bipartisan basis and a consensus between two bodies of Congress.”

Moody, responding to written questions, wrote that Congress has the “constitutional power of the purse” so it's important that its members don't have “any other interests in mind, financial or otherwise.”

“Addressing Members of Congress is the number one priority our constituents are concerned with,” she wrote.

It remains to be seen if the bill will reach a vote in the Senate. A similar bill introduced by Gillibrand and GOP Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri in 2023 never advanced out of committee.

Still, the issue has salience on the campaign trail. Moody is seeking election to her first full term in Florida this year after being appointed to her seat when Marco Rubio became secretary of state. Gillibrand chairs the Senate Democrats’ campaign arm.

“The time has come," Gillibrand said. “We have consensus, and there’s a drumbeat of people who want to get this done.”

FILE -Sen. Ashley Moody, R-Fla., speaks during the confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee for Kash Patel, President Donald Trump's choice to be director of the FBI, at the Capitol in Washington, Jan. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis, File)

FILE - Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., leaves the Senate chamber after voting on a government funding bill at the Capitol in Washington, March 14, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)