On April 19th, 2026, a humanoid robot at the Beijing E-town half marathon finished in a staggering 50 minutes and 26 seconds, breaking the world record. The robot named Lightning is made from a Chinese phone company called Honor. Because of this, his legs were modeled on elite runners that mimic human athletes’ leg structure, and its motors are cooled with a liquid circulation system.
Just last year, the fastest time a robot ran a half marathon was two hours and 45 minutes, and many of them couldn’t even finish it. That’s over three times the speed improvement since last year.
In early March 2026, robots won tennis matches repeatedly against humans. This robot named Ace was developed by Sony AI, made with eight joints and high-speed 3D-Perception cameras. Ace is capable of superhuman reaction time and can read anyone’s hit and replicate it, most times beating humans with unconventional moves.
With how fast robots are advancing, UC Berkeley professor Ken Goldberg says robots are “fast, strong, and inevitable”. The future of robots is certain, with most Americans believing they will be out of a job in just 10 years or less.
