Beijing:
The Twenty-One Humanoid Robot joined thousands of runners in the Yizuang Half-Marathon in Beijing on Saturday, for the first time these machines have run with humans in the 21-km (13-mile) course.
Chinese manufacturers such as Droidvp and noetix robotics come in all shapes, some less than 120 cm (3.9 ft), long as other 1.8 m (5.9 ft). A company claimed that its robot looked almost human, which had the features of the woman and the ability to blink and smile.
Some firms tested their robots for weeks before the race. Beijing officials have described the incident as more for a race car competition, given the need of engineering and navigation teams.
In the last one year, humanoid robots have appeared in marathon in China, but have not run. This is the first time they have run with humans.
China is hoping that investment in marginal industries such as robotics can help create new engines of economic growth. However, some analysts questioned whether robots enter the marathon, their industrial capacity is a reliable indicator.
Alan Fern, Professor of Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence and Robotics at Oregon State University, said contrary to the claims of Beijing officials that such a race requires “AI successes”, which was capable of running the software humanoid robot and was displayed more than five years ago.
“(Robot Half-Marathon) is more than a hardware patient performance,” he said.
Fern said, “Chinese companies have really focused on showing other tricks of walking, running, dancing and agility. Generally, these are interesting performances, but they do not display much about useful work utility or any kind of basic intelligence information,” Fern said.
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