On Saturday, the city of Beijing held a half-marathon that included both human participants and humanoid robots, billing this gathering as an unprecedented global event.

The event took place as the Chinese government is fostering the growth of robotics and artificial intelligence during an escalating technology competition with the United States.

For the approximately 21-kilometer half-marathon event, distinct routes were established for both robotic and human participants. Robots had to have two legs and could either operate independently or via remote control, with the expectation of completing the race within roughly three and a half hours.

Approximately 20 groups took part in the competition, where they could swap out batteries and deploy multiple robots to complete the course through a relay format.

The heights and weights of the robots differed, ranging from the tallest at 180 centimeters down to the shortest at 75 cm. Donning bibs displaying their race numbers, the robots set off from a Beijing park at one-minute intervals.

Several teams encountered initial difficulties due to technical problems.