Humanoid robots have outpaced human runners in the half-marathon, beating the world record ‪—‬ here are the secrets to this astonishing feat

A humanoid running robot with a red jersey reaches a dark blue ribbon at the finish line of a road race.

An autonomous humanoid robot built by the smartphone maker Honor has shattered the human half-marathon record.

Called the Honor Robotics D1, the mech-inspired, vibrant-red bot completed the 13.1-mile (21.1 kilometers) race in 50 minutes, 26 seconds at the 2026 Beijing E-Town Humanoid Robot Half-Marathon, eclipsing the previous human record of 57 minutes, 20 seconds, which was set by Ugandan runner Jacob Kiplimo in March.