A number of sophisticated humanoid robots burst forth with remarkable engineering and ingenuity at this year’s Beijing half marathon. Their engagement blew me away! Noetix’s Xuanfeng Xiaozi was one of the finalists. It entered the race with incredible potential energy but found itself faced with tremendous forces of disruption as the event evolved. Frequent breakdowns caught up to Xuanfeng Xiaozi in the late rounds. With the help and guidance of limited human operators, it successfully hobbled across the finish line, so to speak.
Xuanfeng Xiaozi had a watermelon cooler strapped to its face. There was no shortage of dismal coordination, as its right foot was terribly out of sync with its left. The robot had a challenging obstacle course where its endurance was truly a test. Then a quick-thinking team of operators jumped in with duct tape to fix its malfunctions, getting it across the finish line.
Those are just some of the challenges uniquely faced by humanoid robots which Fern, “head referee,” called the “superstar class of this race.” “You wanna think of these robots more like running a remote control car through the race.”
Tiangong Ultra’s beautiful abilities, a tremendous contrast compared to Xuanfeng Xiaozi’s utter failings. This amazing humanoid robot, the biggest ever built, was designed jointly by UBTech and the Beijing Humanoid Robot Innovation Center. Tiangong Ultra, the eventual winner, displayed remarkable fortitude throughout the entire race. It completed the race in two hours and 40 minutes, despite the hurdles of three battery swaps and a fall. This poor performance barely edged out a participation award for human beings. The slowest pace permitted for human runners was three hours and 10 minutes.
While Xuanfeng Xiaozi’s runner-up robot from Noetix waited for ten minutes at the finish line, Tiangong Ultra’s achievement showcased the advancements in robotic technology. Its design and tenacity, though, underscore the new priorities taking hold among researchers. Fern noted, “I would expect to see China shifting this year to focusing more on doing useful things, because people are going to be bored of dancing and karate.”
Unitree’s robots had a big presence at the half marathon. While they never were in real competition, many institutions ran them and touted their incredible capabilities for tight turning shots. These robots required constant supervision, with human teams furiously changing batteries and spraying cooling liquid to maintain optimal motor performance.
The competition featured a wide range of different robot sizes. One of the robots was only 2 feet 5 inches tall, but another was 5 feet 9 inches tall! Shennong stood out even further amongst this ancient crowd. This abomination started to look like an IRL Frankenstein’s monster with a Gundam’s head and four drone propellers coming out back.
As advanced as their technology might be, nearly all humanoid robots struggled at coming within spitting distance of the speed runners could maintain. Only six robots were able to finish the course, which served as a showcase for not just the state of robotics potential, but their current limitations.
Fern underscored the significant hurdle researchers had to clear to get robots walk on their own reliably. This situation has continued up until very recently. “Until five years ago or so, we didn’t really know how to get robots to walk reliably. Now we do, and this will be a good demonstration of that,” he stated.
This year’s half marathon was the greatest test of robot endurance to date. Most importantly, it provided a unique opportunity for engineers, developers and end-users to test these machines in actual, real-world conditions. The challenges faced by the robots underscore the ongoing work necessary to enhance their operational efficiency and effectiveness in various environments.
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