Robots Suck at Running

From the Guardian:

Twenty-one humanoid robots joined thousands of runners at the Yizhuang half-marathon in Beijing on Saturday, the first time these machines have raced alongside humans over a 21km course.

Sounds promising enough so far, but:

The robots were accompanied by human trainers, some of whom had to physically support the machines during the race.

And:

The winning robot was Tiangong Ultra, from the Beijing Innovation Centre of Human Robotics, with a time of 2hr 40min. The men’s winner of the race had a time of 1hr 2min.

Some robots struggled from the beginning. One fell at the starting line and lay flat for a few minutes before getting up and taking off. Another crashed into a railing after running a few metres, causing its human operator to fall over.

I know we’re supposed to be celebrating these technological achievements, but man we’re a million miles away from flying cars and all that other shit we’ve been breathlessly promised for decades.