HONOR 'Lightning' Robot Claims Half Marathon Victory, Surpassing Human World Record
On April 19, 2026, the HONOR 'Lightning' humanoid robot, developed by Honor Device Co., Ltd., clinched the championship at the Beijing Yizhuang Humanoid Robot Half Marathon with a net time of 50 minutes and 26 seconds, officially surpassing the men's half marathon world record of 57 minutes and 20 seconds set by Uganda's Jacob Kiplimo. This marks a historic moment as the first time a humanoid robot has officially surpassed the human world record in an endurance sports event. The competition featured 105 teams from 26 brands with over 300 robots, a five-fold increase from the inaugural event, with nearly 40% competing in autonomous navigation mode. The winning robot, 'Lightning' (HONOR Robotics D1), stands 169cm tall and weighs 45kg. Key innovations include a self-developed liquid cooling system with heat exchange flow exceeding 4 liters per minute, integrated joint modules with peak torque of 400 Newton-meters, and high-dynamic control algorithms supporting recovery within 30 seconds after falls. 'This breakthrough validates the feasibility of consumer electronics manufacturing capabilities migrating to embodied intelligence,' said Wang Ai, Chief Strategy Officer of HONOR Embodied Intelligence. The project was completed in just 6 months with a team of 200 people, leveraging HONOR's near 10,000 R&D personnel and manufacturing capability of 28.5 seconds per phone.
