this post was submitted on 19 Apr 2026
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Shandian completed the 21-kilometer (around 13-mile) course in Beijing's Yizhuang district with a time of 50:26, while Lightning achieved a time of 48:19.

Both times were faster than the human record for the distance set by Uganda's Jacob Kiplimo, who ran a time of 57:20 at the Lisbon Half Marathon in March.

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[–] renegadespork@lemmy.jelliefrontier.net 18 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

I cannot think of a non-hostile application for this.

Like who tf cares that a machine can run a marathon? The only reason marathons are a thing is because they are difficult for humans to do, and the ones who do display a feat of perseverance.

We’ve had self-propelled vehicles for hundreds of years that are way more efficient, so it’s not about transportation. The only practical application I can think of is to make robots that can chase down humans.

[–] sparkyshocks@lemmy.zip 10 points 8 hours ago

It's for showing off the engineering. Lots of robotics competitions focus on different things (throwing balls, kicking soccer balls, moving fast), but BattleBots is definitely the one I'd be most worried about advancing a dangerous line of killer tech.

A humanoid bipedal foot race shows off balance, speed, power efficiency, and things like that.

[–] hperrin@lemmy.ca 27 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

Well, yeah. And a car can too.

[–] etherphon@piefed.world 13 points 13 hours ago

Yea man this is some real dumb shit lol, I think we established machines were faster a bit ago, and wheels are by far a more economical conveyance. They just wanna build sex bots I swear to god.

[–] JeeBaiChow@lemmy.world 33 points 17 hours ago (3 children)

Meanwhile the us is building a ballroom and fucking up the rest of the world.

[–] agingelderly@lemmy.world 18 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

Trump trying to build coal burning robots

[–] floofloof@lemmy.ca 5 points 9 hours ago

Inadvertent MAGA steampunk.

[–] redsand@infosec.pub 7 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago)

China is still an Orwellian dream. Just a more serious one.

[–] MadMadBunny@lemmy.ca 4 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

He’s building a nuclear bunker under the ballroom.

[–] hank_the_tank66@lemmy.world 5 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

There is definitely already a nuclear bunker in the white house. Maybe it wasn't gold enough for him.

[–] Quexotic@infosec.pub 1 points 6 hours ago

I'd read somewhere that it had needed upgrading for some time, but I'm thinking trump might actually need it with the kind of stuff he's doing right now.

[–] Jomega@lemmy.world 24 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

No shit? Machines don't get tired.

[–] Bustedknuckles@lemmy.world 31 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

Shows the battery packs can last - that's something. I remember when the Boston dynamics bots needed to be wired

[–] Nomad@infosec.pub 5 points 13 hours ago

They have internal combustion engines for power. Would be interesting what power source they brought.

[–] Suck_on_my_Presence@lemmy.world 9 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

I mean the robot is cool, but the human runner beat the world record by 7 minutes??? That is insane!

[–] CoopaLoopa@lemmy.dbzer0.com 14 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

Shandian and Lightning are both robots. One was autonomous and one was remote controlled.

The article doesn't mention anything about the times run by humans.

[–] Suck_on_my_Presence@lemmy.world 3 points 9 hours ago

Whoops! My reading comprehension is garbage lately

[–] Rhaedas@fedia.io 4 points 15 hours ago

Great, so both four- and two-legged versions are faster than humans.

[–] medem@lemmy.wtf 2 points 15 hours ago
[–] hanrahan@slrpnk.net 2 points 15 hours ago

last year was a disaster,they have improved ! and wow, the battery life.

[–] magnue@lemmy.world 1 points 15 hours ago

Next in: spinbot beats pro gamer in 1v1.