On April 19, the 2026 Beijing Yizhuang Humanoid Robot Half Marathon concluded with a historic victory. The humanoid robot "Lightning" (闪电), developed by the HONOR Qitian Dasheng Team (荣耀齐天大圣队), secured the championship with a net time of 50 minutes and 26 seconds.
This performance shattered the current human men's half marathon world record of 57 minutes and 20 seconds, making HONOR the first smartphone manufacturer to win the event. Compared to last year's winning time of 2 hours, 40 minutes, and 42 seconds, robot speeds have increased more than threefold.
The scale of this year's event expanded five times compared to last year, attracting over 100 teams and more than 300 robots. Ultimately, 47 teams finished the race—a completion rate of over 45%—with the autonomous navigation group accounting for nearly 40% of the entries. HONOR dominated the competition by sweeping the top six positions. Another HONOR entry, "Yuanqi-zai" , also successfully completed the race. "Lightning" stands 169 cm tall with a "trendy mecha" design, while "Yuanqi-zai" stands 136.9 cm tall with a more approachable appearance. To navigate the complex 21.0975 km course, HONOR’s R&D team shifted the rotation centers to give "Lightning" an effective leg length of 0.95 meters and ported smartphone-grade liquid cooling technology into the robot to solve overheating issues during high-speed operation.
The HONOR robot team was established only about a year ago and now exceeds 200 members across Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen. Its new industry incubation department includes several laboratories focused on embodied intelligence and powertrains, achieving full-stack self-development from integrated joint modules to motion control algorithms. Industry experts believe that "Lightning’s" victory not only demonstrates HONOR’s deep accumulation in embodied intelligence but also marks a systemic leap in the athletic performance and reliability of Chinese humanoid robots.