Tutor Intelligence in Watertown is a kind of kindergarten for robots.

A premapped course, a crew of handlers and a world-beating time: here’s what this Beijing half marathon reveals about how far humanoid robots have come—and how far they haven’t

BEIJING — It was not even close as a bright red Chinese humanoid named “Lightning” lived up to its name in a half-marathon pitting humans against robots, smoking its competition on Sunday

Scientists say they've made a key breakthrough that would allow robots to figure out complex tasks on their own, but experts say it raises questions about how much risk comes with letting robots be in charge of their own learning.

A humanoid robot runs among human participants during a half marathon event in Beijing, captured by staff photographer Han Guan Ng. The image shows the alignment of runners, robots and event staging in a single frame.

Some robots ran the Beijing half-marathon autonomously, while others were controlled remotely, all competing on a parallel course to avoid collisions with human athletes.

A self-navigating robot called Lightning, developed by Chinese electronics company Honor, won the 13.1-mile race. Its results and others mark significant advancements since last year's inaugural event,

Sony AI’s Ace robot can now compete with and sometimes beat elite table tennis players, a milestone for real-world robotics and fast physical AI.

The winner from Honor, a Chinese smartphone maker, completed the race in 50 minutes and 26 seconds, running faster than the human world record in a show of China's technological leaps.