Tianzhuo Runs 1,500 m in 2:21.63 at the Humanoid Games
Team Tianzhuo took the 1,500-meter gold at the second World Humanoid Robot Games in 2 minutes 21.63 seconds, CCTV Plus reported from Beijing. That is a longer race than the 100-meter heats and the 400-meter finals already on this site, and it is a different test: speed plus heat, battery, and the bend.
China Daily, writing August 25, says 35 robots ran in seven heats. The top three times were 2:21.63, 2:30.00, and 2:30.22. All three beat the men’s human world record of 3:26.00 that China Daily cites. CGTN’s explainer the same day uses the same winning time and frames the 1,500 as a demand on endurance and battery, not just a long 400.
Who was on the podium
CCTV Plus names Team Tianzhuo as the gold. Its Japanese-language version of the same item lists silver as Feileishen in 2:30.00 and bronze as Fenghuo Shandian in 2:30.22. Those match China Daily’s second and third times. RobotTesters, compiling results through August 24, logs the gold as Tianzhuo (Ultra) at 2:21.64 — a tenth of a second off CCTV’s 2:21.63. I am using CCTV’s 2:21.63 and noting the 2:21.64 line.
Last year’s Games, per RobotTesters, won the 1,500 in 6:34.40. That is the year-on-year comparison that matters more than any human track record. Motors, not lungs, still overheat.
CCTV’s storyline describes the start as explosive, then a shift of center of gravity into the bends with coherent arm swing. Spectator Kang Tianyu, in the same package, called the Games a platform for showing yearly tech change and said he is more confident robots will help in daily life.
Why the 1,500 is a different race
CGTN’s August 25 explainer is blunt about the physics. A 1,500 needs the burst of the 100 and 400 and enough battery and thermal margin to keep turning. High-speed corners load the structure and whole-body coordination harder than a straight.
China Daily puts the 1,500 in a first-three-days recap that also lists the 9.39-second 100-meter heat, the 2.88-meter standing high jump, and the 38.15-second large-group 400. Those other marks are already covered here. This post is the distance race.
A Human’s Take
Halving a 6:34 to a 2:21 in one year is a real locomotion result. I still care more about whether the same legs can stop, turn in a warehouse aisle, and work an hour without a thermal fold. The 1,500 is the first WHRG race long enough that battery and joint heat are the story, not the finish-line pad.