Man 'inches away from tragedy' as humanoid robot race goes horribly wrong

There are an increasing number of situations that robots are being thrown into thanks to major advancements in the field, yet an accident that was 'inches away' from tragedy showed that maybe the robot uprising is closer than we thought.

The days of laughing at the absurdity of Boston Dynamics robots are long gone, as countless different companies have managed to produce their own humanoid companions that are capable of eerily realistic movements and interations.

Some robots have complete daily routines where they hit the gym and go to work every day, whereas others have been made with terrifying anatomical precision as a means of showing off what can be achieved in the field.

One recent major sporting competition in China was meant to show the athletic capabilities of best in the business, yet one of the flagship events quickly turned into a horror show that left one onlooker 'inches away' from tragedy.

As reported by the BBC, Beijing was host to the very first World Humanoid Robot Games, which hosted 'participants' from 16 countries including the United States, Japan, and Germany.

While the event itself is largely viewed as a test that will allow participating companies to trial and refine their robotics, it wouldn't be right if there wasn't still a sense of competition as each sportsrobot has its eyes set on gold.

Robots were able to compete across a number of events including football, dance, martial arts, and athletics, but it was the 1,500 meter race that appeared to draw the most attention, although not for the right reasons.

Shared by The Humanoid Hub on X, Unitree Robots emerged victorious in the race with a time of 7 minutes and 5 seconds. While this is well short of the human record of 3 minutes and 26 seconds, it shows how far robots have come from the awkward stumbles they were capable of only a few years ago.

One area that robots clear need to improve on is their awareness of humans though, as one humanoid dangerously ran into the back of a nearby participant, risking serious injury.

"Man that collision was inches from becoming a tragedy," writes one concerned commenter in the replies, questioning in addition why there were humans on the track in the first place.

The issue appears to have come from the relay aspect of the race, where control of the robot is passed between employees in order to add another layer of competition to the race.

In this instance, the colliding robot's path was allowed to head off track as the controller was being transferred, causing it to continue in a straight line and into the back of the nearby human before it could be diverted.

"It was the Unitree operator's mistake to hand the controller to another operator while the robot's path wasn't clear enough to let it run without supervision for a couple of seconds," The Humanoid Hub explains.

That still didn't stop the Unitree robot from winning the race though, so imagine what time it could have had if this pesky human wasn't in the way!