BEIJING — It was not even close as a bright red Chinese humanoid named “Lightning” lived up to its name in a half-marathon pitting humans against robots, smoking its competition on Sunday

Chinese startups are churning out more humanoid robots than their U.S. rivals, despite far lower valuations.

The feat occurred at an even in Beijing that pitted robots against human runners. The humanoid robotics market is on the rise and could reach 1 billion machines by 2050. A 5′ 5″ bipedal robot named Lightning just crushed the human world record time for running a half marathon,

Humanoid robots are being trained to carry out maintenance on China’s power grid. Developers say the machines could eventually handle repetitive and hazardous work.

People watch a robot dance performance in Fuzhou, southeast China's Fujian Province, April 19, 2026. A robot dance performance was staged here to welcome the 9th Digital China Summit, which will convene in Fuzhou from April 29 to 30. (Xinhua/Jiang Kehong)

Walker S2 is an adult-sized humanoid robot with legs, a torso, and arms. China is sending these robots to patrol their border with Vietnam.

Every week, we recap highlights of the news from China. This edition covers some notable tech developments and the China-Taiwan relationship.

On Tuesday, AgiBot, a Shanghai-based embodied AI company, broadcast live from the intelligent manufacturing center of Longcheer, a leading smart device designer and manufacturer, in Nanchang, capital of east China's Jiangxi Province.