BEIJING — It was not even close as a bright red Chinese humanoid named “Lightning” lived up to its name in a half-marathon pitting humans against robots, smoking its competition on Sunday

Unlike large language models trained on vast internet corpora, embodied AI systems must learn through interaction with the physical world.

In an interview with CNBC, Ling noted that current use cases for humanoid robots remain “fairly restrictive,” confined mostly to performances at events like the CCTV Spring Gala, concerts, marathons, and boxing matches.

Ukraine is deploying robots on the frontlines, and China wants to bolster its police to help deal with riots.

Humanoid robots are being trained to carry out maintenance on China’s power grid. Developers say the machines could eventually handle repetitive and hazardous work.

People watch a robot dance performance in Fuzhou, southeast China's Fujian Province, April 19, 2026. A robot dance performance was staged here to welcome the 9th Digital China Summit, which will convene in Fuzhou from April 29 to 30. (Xinhua/Jiang Kehong)

Walker S2 is an adult-sized humanoid robot with legs, a torso, and arms. China is sending these robots to patrol their border with Vietnam.

Every week, we recap highlights of the news from China. This edition covers some notable tech developments and the China-Taiwan relationship.