The world's first half marathon featuring robots and humans kicked off in Beijing on Saturday, with some 9,000 amateur runners and 20 robots from across China competing in a test of technology and endurance.
Twenty teams with 18 types of human-like robots competed for the championship title, along with various prizes based on the robots' running style, endurance, popularity, and design, according to the Chinese newspaper Global Times.
A small robot that fell to the ground managed to get up on its own after a few minutes to cheers from the crowd, while another robot veered off the course, crashed into a barrier, and knocked an engineer to the ground.
Research institutes, universities, and companies from Beijing, Shanghai, and several provinces participated in the approximately 21-kilometer race.
The Tiangong Ultra robot crossed the finish line in just over two hours and forty minutes.
Despite giving the robot maximum power, Tiangong Ultra lagged far behind the fastest man in the race, who crossed the line in approximately 1 hour and 11 seconds.
The robots were separated from their human competitors by barriers on the course.
Engineers were allowed to make adjustments to their advanced technology along the way, with special assistance stations designated for the robots.
However, instead of water and snacks, the stations provided batteries and technical tools for the robots.