A paddle-wielding robot is so adept at playing table tennis that it is posing a tough challenge to elite human players and sometimes defeating them, according to a new study in the journal Nature that shows how advances in artificial intelligence are making robots more agile.

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

HANNOVER, DE / ACCESS Newswire / April 22, 2026 / Monday morning at Hannover Messe. A four-legged robot trots across a booth floor. Then a second one. Then a third. DEEP Robotics shipped all three here.

On Sunday morning in a Beijing suburb, a red, humanoid robot completed a half-marathon in 50 minutes and 26 seconds — about seven minutes faster than the men’s world record.

China’s Hefei metro is testing robot dogs, drones, and humanoids to inspect trains, patrol platforms, and assist passengers during busy travel periods.

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.

Vivienne Ming argues for a change in how we prepare the young for a near-future dominated and ‘deprofessionalised’ by AI