HUMAN VS. ROBOT MARATHON

China will be hosting the world’s first man vs. robot half-marathon in April. 12,000 human runners will run against dozens of two-legged robots from 20 different tech firms in Beijing. The race will mark the first time that humanoid robots will compete in the entire marathon from start to finish. The competitors will run a a 21 kilometer (13 mile) route through the city. The rules for the robots:
– The machines must be humanoid, meaning they bear a strong resemblance to human beings.
– They must be able to perform bi-pedal (two-footed) walking or running. No wheels.
– The bots must also be between 0.5 and 2 meters tall.
– Both remote-controlled and fully automatic humanoids are eligible to race, and batteries can be replaced mid-dash.
* When no one’s looking, the human runners should grab the robots and turn them around so they’re pointed back to the starting line.
* This is our first chance to learn how fast we have to be to outrun them when they go all Skynet on us.
* Seriously: any robot that places in the top five should be destroyed, if we know what’s good for us. And we don’t.
* Every mile there’ll be humans passing out Gatorade to the runners, and Roombas passing out cans of WD-40 to the bots.
* One group that’s not thrilled about where this is heading: mail carriers.