Most humanoid robots stumbling and overheating, failing to end half marathon in Beijing
While abilities such as dancing may be interesting, Fern said, it doesn’t actually show how useful human robots are in real-life situations. Even if they can run a half marathon, their skills are not very useful benchmarks, which is not like the market demand for robots that can compete with human runners. Fairn said the important benchmark for him is how they handle various real-world tasks without step-by-step human instructions. “But I hope China will shift this year to focusing more on doing useful things because people will be bored with dance and karate,” Fern said.
There are many forms of robots participating in the competition. The shortest ones are only 2 feet and 5 inches tall. Wearing blue and white sportswear and waving to onlookers every few seconds is probably a crowd favorite. The highest is five feet nine inches, and it is the winner of the crown.
What all robots have in common is that they are bipeds rather than running on wheels, which is a requirement for participating in the competition. As long as the robots meet this requirement, they are free to be creative, and the companies behind them adopt a wide range of strategies to try to gain an advantage over their competitors. Some people wear kids-sized sneakers (although stepping on the pedal to avoid falling off). Others have knee pads to protect their delicate parts from damage when they fall. Most robots take their fingers away, and some even lack heads – after all you don’t need parts like this to run, removing them off to reduce the weight of the robot and reduce the burden on the motor.
Tiangong Ultra and another model, an N2 robot made by Chinese company Noetix Robotics, which finished second in the competition but stood out due to their consistency (slow speed). Other humanoids are mainly disastrous. A robot named Huanhuan has a human head that moves only at the speed of a snail for a few minutes, while its head shakes uncontrollably – as if it can fall off at any time.
Another robot named Shennong looks like a real Frankenstein monster with a head similar to Gundam and four drone propellers facing backwards. It is situated on a base with eight wheels and it is not clear that the separate situation is not disqualified. But that’s not even Shennong’s biggest problem, as the robot started from the starting line, hit the wall and dragged it to the human operator, immediately rotated two circles. It looks very painful.
Tape has proven to be the most effective tool to solve problems. The accompanying people not only made temporary robot shoes with tape, but also used it to stick the robot’s head back into the run, resulting in some very shocking scenes.
Each robot has a human operator, usually running next to them. Some of the control panels held allow them to provide robot instructions, including the speed of walking, while others bring roads to the robot and try to clear potential obstacles on the ground. There are many humanoid animals caught and pets are traction. “You think of these robots as more like running remote-control cars in a race. But the robots don’t have wheels,” Fern said.
