Are you a marathon runner? AI is coming to your job, too.
China is organizing what may very well be one of many weirdest races in historical past: a half-marathon the place 12,000 people will compete in opposition to a military of humanoid robots to see who’s the very best long-distance runner.
The 21-kilometer race in Beijing’s Daxing district is not simply one other tech demo. Greater than 20 firms are bringing their finest strolling robots to compete, they usually’re taking part in for actual cash—the highest three finishers get prizes no matter whether or not they’re manufactured from flesh or metallic.
This could be the primary time humanoid robots race a full 21-kilometer course.
Final 12 months, robots had been in a position to be a part of a race with out having to finish the total route.
The Beijing Financial-Technological Growth Space (E-City), which is organizing the occasion, features a strict no-wheels coverage, and the bots really have to look human-ish and stroll on two legs.
They must be between 0.5 and a pair of meters tall—so no big mechs or tiny robotic automobiles might be sneaking in.
One of many early favorites is Tiangong, a humanoid that may run 10km/h. The robotic, developed by China’s Embodied Synthetic Intelligence Robotics Innovation Middle, already confirmed up finally 12 months’s Yizhuang Half Marathon. Nonetheless, this might be its first shot at operating the total course.
It additionally crossed the road alongside a few of the quickest people throughout final 12 months’s half marathon—after becoming a member of for the final 100 meters.
It’s not like People are specializing in constructing tremendous quick humanoid robots.
The Tesla Optimus Gen-2 peaks at 8km/h, so it’s slower than Tiangong, and the Atlas (constructed by Boston Dynamics) is a bit sooner at 9km/h.
That mentioned, there is perhaps a worthy contestant: The OpenAI-backed 1X NEO, which reaches a theoretical pace of 12km/h.
The hype round AI and humanoid robotics is extra current than ever in China.
Native firms put in 276,288 robots in 2023, accounting for 51% of worldwide installations, in response to the Worldwide Federation of Robotics. The trade is projected to hit 400 billion yuan ($54.6 billion) by 2030.
E-City’s not simply organizing races—it’s already obtained robots working at Chinese language BYD’s electrical car factories.
After this marathon, Beijing’s planning one other robo-sports showdown in August, that includes every thing from observe and area to soccer. The group additionally plans to take a position 60 billion yuan ($8.21 billion) in AI developments this 12 months.
Individuals have till February to make up their minds. The marathon will happen in Beijing this April, in response to the Chinese language authorities.
Edited by Sebastian Sinclair
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