While dance-like abilities can be fun and can be worn with glasses, Fern says it doesn’t really show how useful humanoid robots are in real life situations. Even if they could run a half marathon, it would not be a very useful benchmark for their skills. That’s not like there’s a market demand for robots that can compete with human runners. The benchmark Fern tells him the question is how well he can handle diverse real-world tasks without step-by-step human instructions. “But people get bored of dancing and karatism, so they’ll hope that this year China will shift to focus more on doing what’s useful,” Fern says.
The robots that participated in the race came in a variety of shapes. The shortest ones were only 2 feet and 5 inches tall. Wearing a blue and white tracksuit, waving at the onlookers every few seconds, it was probably a crowd favorite. The tallest of 5 feet 9 inches was the winner Tiangourla.
What all robots have in common is that they are bipedal instead of running on wheels, which is a requirement for participating in races. As long as the robots meet their requirements, they are free to become creative and employ a wide range of strategies to ensure that the companies behind them have an advantage over their competitors. Some people wore child-sized sneakers (but they are screwed into the pedals to prevent them from falling). Others were equipped with knee pads to protect sensitive parts from damage when they fell. Most robots had their fingers removed, some had missing heads. After all, it doesn’t require such parts for running, reducing the weight of the robot and the amount of strain placed on the motor.
The N2 robot, created by Chinese company Noetix Robotics, which took second place in the race from Tiangong Ultra, another model, was outstanding for its consistent consistency, albeit at a slow pace. The performances of the other humanoids were almost disastrous. One robot called Huanhuan, with a human-like head, moved only at the speed of a snail for a few minutes.
Another robot named Shenon looks like a real Frankenstein monster with a head resembling a Gundam and four drone propellers heading towards the rear. It was on a base with eight wheels, and it is not clear how it was not disqualified by itself. But that wasn’t even Shenon’s biggest problem. The robot took off from the starting line, hit a wall, dragged the human operator, then quickly rotated in two circles. It was painful to watch.
Duct tape has proven to be the most effective problem-solving tool. The accompanying human not only made makeshift robot shoes with duct tape, but also used them to bring the robot’s head back to the body after repeatedly falling while driving, creating a very unpleasant scene.
All robots had human operators, often two or three people running to the side. While other operators tried to lead the path to the robot and clear potential obstacles on the ground, some held a control panel that could give instructions to the robot. A considerable number of humanoids were held in what appeared to be pet chains. “These robots are like carrying remote controlled cars in a race. But the robots don’t have wheels,” Fern says.
