AND THEY’RE off! Nicely, a few of them. One weak-kneed participant collapsed earlier than the beginning line. One other did so a couple of steps later. A 3rd shortly ran right into a railing. Nonetheless, the remaining 18 humanoid robots participating in a Beijing half-marathon on April nineteenth leapt, skipped or trundled glitchlessly onto a particular observe in a expertise park on the outskirts of the Chinese language capital—and into the long run. The winner crossed the ending line in a stately two hours and 40 minutes; 5 extra accomplished the 21.1km course. A few of the 12,000 human runners (the perfect of whom coated the gap in simply over an hour) regarded on, bemusedly.
