By Eduardo Baptista and Alessandro Diviggiano
BEIJING (Reuters) – Twenty-one humanoid robots joined hundreds of runners on the Yizhuang half-marathon in Beijing on Saturday, the primary time these machines have raced alongside people over a 21-km (13-mile) course.
The robots from Chinese language producers corresponding to DroidUP and Noetix Robotics got here in all sizes and styles, some shorter than 120 cm (3.9 ft), others as tall as 1.8 m (5.9 ft). One firm boasted that its robotic appeared nearly human, with female options and the flexibility to wink and smile.
Some corporations examined their robots for weeks earlier than the race. Beijing officers have described the occasion as extra akin to a race automotive competitors, given the necessity for engineering and navigation groups.
“The robots are operating very effectively, very steady … I really feel I am witnessing the evolution of robots and AI,” mentioned spectator He Sishu, who works in synthetic intelligence.
The robots had been accompanied by human trainers, a few of whom needed to bodily assist the machines through the race.
A number of of the robots wore trainers, with one donning boxing gloves and one other sporting a pink headband with the phrases “Sure to Win” in Chinese language.
The successful robotic was Tiangong Extremely, from the Beijing Innovation Heart of Human Robotics, with a time of two hours and 40 minutes. The lads’s winner of the race had a time of 1 hour and a couple of minutes.
The centre is 43% owned by two state-owned enterprises, whereas tech large Xiaomi’s robotics arm and main Chinese language humanoid robotic agency UBTech have equal share in the remainder.
Tang Jian, chief know-how officer for the robotics centre, mentioned Tiangong Extremely’s efficiency was aided by lengthy legs and an algorithm permitting it to mimic how people run a marathon.
“I do not need to boast however I believe no different robotics corporations within the West have matched Tiangong’s sporting achievements,” Tang mentioned, including that the robotic switched batteries simply 3 times through the race.
SOME ROBOTS STRUGGLE
Some robots, like Tiangong Extremely, accomplished the race, whereas others struggled from the start. One robotic fell on the beginning line and lay flat for a couple of minutes earlier than getting up and taking off. One crashed right into a railing after operating a couple of metres, inflicting its human operator to fall over.
Though humanoid robots have made appearances at marathons in China over the previous yr, that is the primary time they’ve raced alongside people.
China is hoping that funding in frontier industries like robotics can assist create new engines of financial development. Some analysts, although, query whether or not having robots enter marathons is a dependable indicator of their industrial potential.
Alan Fern, professor of laptop science, synthetic intelligence and robotics at Oregon State College, mentioned opposite to claims from Beijing officers that such a race requires “AI breakthroughs”, the software program enabling humanoid robots to run was developed and demonstrated greater than 5 years in the past.
“Chinese language corporations have actually centered on exhibiting off strolling, operating, dancing, and different feats of agility.
“Usually, these are attention-grabbing demonstrations, however they do not display a lot concerning the utility of helpful work or any sort of fundamental intelligence,” Fern mentioned.
Tang, the robotic centre’s CTO, mentioned: “A spotlight going ahead for us shall be industrial purposes for humanoid robots to allow them to actually enter factories, enterprise eventualities, and at last households.”
(This story has been refiled to repair a typo in paragraph 2)
(Reporting by Eduardo Baptista and Alessandro Diviggiano; Enhancing by Tom Hogue)
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