Robot runner handily beats humans in half-marathon, setting new record

A humanoid robot took the fastest half-marathon record away from human athletes.

See full article...

 

[pauleyc]

This should not be a particularly warm take, but....



No. No it did not. A humanoid robot is doing something categorically different than a human athlete. The two do not compete. The two cannot compete. The only thing that robot is doing that's even faintly related to running a marathon is bipedal locomotion, and only in that way is it any different than a remote control car driving 13.1 miles - a task that is trivial for almost any self-propelled machine with a battery or energy source capable of powering it for whatever amount of time it takes to traverse that distance. Let's not trivialize human accomplishments.

Exactly. It's about as correct as claiming a forklift stole a human athlete's Olympic medal in weightlifting.