# Robot wins Peking Half-marathon **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Tags:** ai\ **Created:** [April 19, 2026, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robot-wins-peking-half-marathon/1029392 "2026-04-19T12:30:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2026, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robot-wins-peking-half-marathon/1029392/21 "2026-04-19T20:54:41Z")
Also: did they say why a _half_-marathon? Winning a marathon answers a question; winning a half-marathon brings to mind a followup question… ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2026, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robot-wins-peking-half-marathon/1029392/22 "2026-04-19T20:57:15Z")
Battery charge. Even lithium ion only goes so far, and anything like a gasoline-powered generator would add too much weight. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2026, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robot-wins-peking-half-marathon/1029392/23 "2026-04-19T20:59:02Z")
It’s got worse form than [Zatopek.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emil_Z%C3%A1topek) ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2026, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robot-wins-peking-half-marathon/1029392/24 "2026-04-19T21:34:15Z")
That one was autonomous. There was another controlled robot that finished about two minutes ahead of it, but because of the scoring (and penalty for not using an autonomous bot), the autonomous Honor robot won the half-marathon. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2026, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robot-wins-peking-half-marathon/1029392/25 "2026-04-19T21:38:26Z")
“Half-marathon” is the standard term for a 13.1 mile foot race. The complete race being half the length of a standard full marathon. Any objections should be addressed to TPTB of the track & field world. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2026, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robot-wins-peking-half-marathon/1029392/26 "2026-04-19T21:45:22Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > “Half-marathon” is the standard term for a 13.1 mile foot race. The complete race being half the length of a standard full marathon. Yes, I know. My point is, it’s like unto the old joke about the proud dad who says _this baby could someday grow up to be Vice-President_ — which stops there, with no further punchline, because people hearing it already realize the guy settled for something less impressive instead of saying the one term that immediately comes to mind. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2026, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robot-wins-peking-half-marathon/1029392/27 "2026-04-19T22:00:58Z")
> [@Al128](#): > > but, yeah … let’s push coal mining and steel manufacturing jobs in 'merica and defund universities and think-tanks China uses over 50% of the world’s coal to produce electricity. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2026, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robot-wins-peking-half-marathon/1029392/28 "2026-04-19T22:09:35Z")
Gotcha. I thought your point was “but who won the second half of the marathon?” Thanks for setting me straight. ---
**Author:** ![Al128](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/al128/32/16541_2.png) [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2026, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robot-wins-peking-half-marathon/1029392/29 "2026-04-19T22:21:05Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > China uses over 50% of the world’s coal to produce electricity. The relevant question here is not “where are you currently standing” but “in which direction are you moving and at what speed.” ---
**Author:** ![Ponderoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponderoid/32/19221_2.png) [@Ponderoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponderoid)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2026, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robot-wins-peking-half-marathon/1029392/30 "2026-04-20T02:10:30Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > It is fully morally correct that we fully accommodate _humans_ of different shapes, sizes, and mobility levels. Even if that necessarily produces some minor inconveniences for everyone else to avoid major inconvenience or outright unusability for the handicapped. > > But retrofitting the world for small diameter wheels is dumb _once we have the tech to construct, control, & power bipedalism._ Which we clearly do, or almost do. If general purpose wheeled robots that are genuinely useful get deployed on a vast scale, I think that’ll be a _good_ thing, because that will provide the economic incentive to make the human-built world more accessible to them. Think: a lot more ramps. And the wheelchair users that are only grudgingly accommodated these days will benefit from that too. Kind of like how celiac sufferers are very glad the fad for gluten-free products took off. In fact, now I’m remembering that was the plot of a sci-fi story where a robot inventor deliberately left their creations wheeled rather than working on legs. They never said why, but the punchline at the end showed a wheelchair user happily using a ramp that had been constructed for the robots. I can’t remember the name of the story. Paging @Andy_L … 🤖 ♿ ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2026, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robot-wins-peking-half-marathon/1029392/31 "2026-04-20T02:23:12Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > “Half-marathon” is the standard term for a 13.1 mile foot race. Every time I see a half-marathon “13.1” sticker on a car, I think “Meh. Call me when you run a marathon.” Or at least I did think that, until I ran _my_ first half-marathon last February. Now I think half-marathoner’s are all the best sort of people. The very finest. And so it always shall be (until I run a full marathon this coming February, then it’ll be back to “Meh. Call me when you run a marathon). ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2026, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robot-wins-peking-half-marathon/1029392/32 "2026-04-20T04:20:17Z")
Is the thread title bugging anybody else? A robot winning a half-marathon with only robot competitors isn’t exactly a surprise. ---
**Author:** ![colinfred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colinfred/32/21338_2.png) [@colinfred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/colinfred)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2026, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robot-wins-peking-half-marathon/1029392/33 "2026-04-20T05:08:12Z")
There were humans running at the same time, but separated. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2026, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robot-wins-peking-half-marathon/1029392/34 "2026-04-20T08:13:20Z")
Yeah, its not the a bipedal humanoid is an efficient machine in a completely neutral context, it’s that (notionally), it could be a useful multipurpose thing in the human-built world where things are already significantly made to fit humans. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2026, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robot-wins-peking-half-marathon/1029392/35 "2026-04-20T08:57:49Z")
I’m reminded of the Segway - remember that? When it came out, its inventor claimed that it was such an amazing invention that people would be redesigning entire cities around it. And maybe he was right. The thing is, they would have HAD to redesign cities for it, because it wasn’t really compatible with _existing_ cities, which is why it flopped. You build your machine for the world you have, not the world you want. ---
**Author:** ![Al128](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/al128/32/16541_2.png) [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2026, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robot-wins-peking-half-marathon/1029392/36 "2026-04-20T12:39:51Z")
The owner of Segway also flopped. _On the morning of 26 September 2010, Heselden was riding his Segway while [walking his dog](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog_walking) near [Thorp Arch](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thorp_Arch); when he reversed the Segway to allow a dog walker to get past him, he fell from a nearby cliff into the [River Wharfe](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_Wharfe).[[8]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimi_Heselden#cite_note-Independent-8)[[9]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimi_Heselden#cite_note-9)[[10]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimi_Heselden#cite_note-wypolice-10) A “rugged country version” of a Segway was found in the water.[[6]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimi_Heselden#cite_note-BBCobit-6)[[11]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimi_Heselden#cite_note-11) The coroner concluded that Heselden had died of “multiple blunt force injuries of the chest and spine consistent with a fall whilst riding a gyrobike”_ ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2026, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robot-wins-peking-half-marathon/1029392/37 "2026-04-20T13:04:09Z")
Dead while reversing his segway in rough/hilly terrain. An unlucky man who didn’t _quite_ make the grade, eh? ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2026, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robot-wins-peking-half-marathon/1029392/38 "2026-04-20T13:12:57Z")
Maybe it was user error. Maybe it was an electronic problem. I’m thinking specifically of a faulty (Albert) [**Hall Effect Sensor**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hall_effect_sensor) ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2026, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robot-wins-peking-half-marathon/1029392/39 "2026-04-20T13:23:55Z")
…I was thinking of [A Day in the Life](https://genius.com/The-beatles-a-day-in-the-life-lyrics). ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2026, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robot-wins-peking-half-marathon/1029392/40 "2026-04-20T13:28:16Z")
As was I 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robot-wins-peking-half-marathon/1029392.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robot-wins-peking-half-marathon/1029392.md?page=3)