Honor's humanoid robot sets new world record in 400-meter race

Honor's humanoid robot, Lightning, has set a new world record in the 400-meter race at the second World Humanoid Robotics Championship, achieving a time of 40.6 seconds. The event, organized by the Beijing Municipal Government and China Central Television, featured 50 competition categories, with stricter requirements compared to the previous edition. All categories except for the 100-meter, 400-meter obstacle race, and 400-meter race required full autonomy. The completion times for the three speed events were reduced to 1 minute, 5 minutes, and 15 minutes respectively. Lightning also set a new benchmark in the 100-meter race during the preparatory phase, recording a time of 9.32 seconds and a peak speed of 14.5 meters per second, surpassing the previous human 100-meter world record of 9.58 seconds. In April, Lightning achieved a net time of 50 minutes and 26 seconds in the 2026 Beijing Yizhuang Half Marathon and Humanoid Robotics Half Marathon, breaking the human men's half-marathon world record previously held by Uganda's Kipruto with a time of 57 minutes and 20 seconds. Honor's robot team also secured the top six positions in the event. According to research engineer Yao Bin, who spoke to IT Home after the half-marathon victory, the Lightning robot was developed in just six months, undergoing numerous prototype iterations. The top three robots in the competition had identical structures and algorithms, but each adjusted their race strategies accordingly. The championship, which began on August 22, also introduced new events such as table tennis and freestyle combat, with ticket prices starting at 98 yuan.