If you wanted to witness the pace of change and acceleration of humanoid robot technology, the half-marathon that snakes its way around Beijing is as good a place to start as any.

Twelve months ago, the race was a stark illustration that man still had the edge on machine, at least over a dozen or so miles. Many robot contestants struggled to get going, collapsing the moment the starting gun fired, others were stretchered off, most walked, and there were claims that some were so overwhelmed by the exertion that their heads, literally, popped off.

This year, however, the robots outran their masters.

Dozens of Chinese-made humanoids showed off their fast-improving athleticism and autonomous navigation skills as they whizzed past human runners on Sunday. While last ⁠year’s champion robot recorded a time of two hours, 40 minutes, this year several of the frontrunner robots beat the professionals. The human race winner finished more than ten minutes after the robot.

The winner of the humanoid robot half-marathon, a red and black robot with a medal around its neck, is surrounded by journalists.The winner flaunts his medalAndy Wong/AP

Two men and a red humanoid robot with a medal stand on a stage with an abstract blue background showing a running robot. One man holds a golden trophy above his head.Lintao Zhang/Getty ImagesLintao Zhang/Getty Images

Unlike last year, nearly half of the robots navigated the tougher terrain autonomously instead of being directed by remote ⁠control. The robots and 12,000 men and women ran ​in ⁠parallel tracks to avoid collisions.

The winning robot, developed by the Chinese smartphone brand Honor, finished the race in 50 minutes and 26 seconds, several minutes faster than the half-marathon world record set by the Ugandan runner Jacob Kiplimo in Lisbon last month.

Teams from Honor, a ⁠Huawei spin-off, took the three podium spots, all self-navigated and posting world-record-beating times. Du Xiaodi, an Honor engineer on the winning ​team, said its ⁠robot had been in development for a year, fitted with ‌legs 90 to 95cm (35 to 37in) long to mimic elite human runners and liquid cooling technology used in its smartphones.

Du said the sector remained in a nascent phase, but he was confident humanoids would eventually reshape many industries, including manufacturing. “Running faster may not seem meaningful ‌at first, but it enables technology transfer, for example, into structural reliability and cooling, ‌and eventually industrial applications,” Du told Reuters.

A humanoid robot dressed in a maroon shirt and blue cape runs on a paved road.A variety of robots ran the raceANDRES MARTINEZ CASARES

A humanoid robot crosses the finish line during the Beijing Humanoid Half Marathon.Lintao Zhang/Getty Images

A humanoid robot with a red hat runs on a track during the Beijing Humanoid Half Marathon.Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

Spectators largely viewed the variety of humanoids of different sizes and gaits on display as evidence of China’s improvements in robotics. “The running posture I saw was really quite impressive. Considering that AI has only been developing for a short time, I’m already very impressed that it can achieve this level of performance,” ⁠Chu Tianqi, 23, an engineering student at Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, said.

“The future will definitely be an AI era. If people don’t know how to use AI now, especially if some are still resistant to it, they will definitely become obsolete.”