this post was submitted on 19 Apr 2026
77 points (92.3% liked)

science

26630 readers
294 users here now

A community to post scientific articles, news, and civil discussion.

dart board;; science bs

rule #1: be kind

lemmy.world rules

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Shandian completed the 21-kilometer (around 13-mile) course in Beijing's Yizhuang district with a time of 50:26, while Lightning achieved a time of 48:19.

Both times were faster than the human record for the distance set by Uganda's Jacob Kiplimo, who ran a time of 57:20 at the Lisbon Half Marathon in March.

all 22 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] hperrin@lemmy.ca 30 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Well, yeah. And a car can too.

[–] etherphon@piefed.world 15 points 1 day ago

Yea man this is some real dumb shit lol, I think we established machines were faster a bit ago, and wheels are by far a more economical conveyance. They just wanna build sex bots I swear to god.

[–] renegadespork@lemmy.jelliefrontier.net 22 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I cannot think of a non-hostile application for this.

Like who tf cares that a machine can run a marathon? The only reason marathons are a thing is because they are difficult for humans to do, and the ones who do display a feat of perseverance.

We’ve had self-propelled vehicles for hundreds of years that are way more efficient, so it’s not about transportation. The only practical application I can think of is to make robots that can chase down humans.

[–] sparkyshocks@lemmy.zip 12 points 1 day ago

It's for showing off the engineering. Lots of robotics competitions focus on different things (throwing balls, kicking soccer balls, moving fast), but BattleBots is definitely the one I'd be most worried about advancing a dangerous line of killer tech.

A humanoid bipedal foot race shows off balance, speed, power efficiency, and things like that.

[–] JeeBaiChow@lemmy.world 32 points 1 day ago (3 children)

Meanwhile the us is building a ballroom and fucking up the rest of the world.

[–] agingelderly@lemmy.world 19 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Trump trying to build coal burning robots

[–] floofloof@lemmy.ca 6 points 1 day ago

Inadvertent MAGA steampunk.

[–] redsand 7 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

China is still an Orwellian dream. Just a more serious one.

[–] MadMadBunny@lemmy.ca 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

He’s building a nuclear bunker under the ballroom.

[–] hank_the_tank66@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

There is definitely already a nuclear bunker in the white house. Maybe it wasn't gold enough for him.

[–] Quexotic 1 points 1 day ago

I'd read somewhere that it had needed upgrading for some time, but I'm thinking trump might actually need it with the kind of stuff he's doing right now.

[–] Jomega@lemmy.world 25 points 1 day ago (1 children)

No shit? Machines don't get tired.

[–] Bustedknuckles@lemmy.world 31 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Shows the battery packs can last - that's something. I remember when the Boston dynamics bots needed to be wired

[–] Nomad 5 points 1 day ago

They have internal combustion engines for power. Would be interesting what power source they brought.

[–] Suck_on_my_Presence@lemmy.world 9 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I mean the robot is cool, but the human runner beat the world record by 7 minutes??? That is insane!

[–] CoopaLoopa@lemmy.dbzer0.com 14 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Shandian and Lightning are both robots. One was autonomous and one was remote controlled.

The article doesn't mention anything about the times run by humans.

Whoops! My reading comprehension is garbage lately

[–] Rhaedas@fedia.io 4 points 1 day ago

Great, so both four- and two-legged versions are faster than humans.

[–] medem@lemmy.wtf 2 points 1 day ago
[–] hanrahan@slrpnk.net 2 points 1 day ago

last year was a disaster,they have improved ! and wow, the battery life.

[–] magnue@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

Next in: spinbot beats pro gamer in 1v1.