A Chinese humanoid robot walked 66 miles in 3 days, right into the Guinness World Records - CBS News
Beijing hosted the world's first-ever humanoid robot games in August, where more than 500 "athletes" vied in disciplines ranging from basketball to competitive cleaning.
Key takeaways
The most recent headlines show a surge of activity across the global humanoid‑robot sector. On November 20, Agility Robotics reported that its humanoid logistics robot Digit has completed more than 100,000 tote movements in commercial deployment, proving sustained performance in a live warehouse environment and positioning the company to help address looming manufacturing labor shortages. At the same time, China’s humanoid market is expanding explosively; the National Development and Reform Commission said over 150 Chinese firms have entered the space, prompting officials to warn against a market flood that could crowd out genuine R&D, while a Chinese startup, AgiBot, logged a Guinness World Record by walking 66 miles in three days. Investor appetite is also heating up: Physical Intelligence secured a $600 million financing round that valued the firm at $5.6 billion, and Shenzhen‑based AI2 Robotics highlighted the $1 billion valuation of rival Figure as a benchmark for Chinese startups. Additionally, Huayan Robotics announced it will debut its new S50 heavy‑payload collaborative robot and the high‑speed Elfin cobot at the iREX 2025 exhibition in Tokyo, underscoring the push toward advanced human‑robot collaboration in manufacturing and logistics.
Beijing hosted the world's first-ever humanoid robot games in August, where more than 500 "athletes" vied in disciplines ranging from basketball to competitive cleaning.
AgiBot says the A2 is designed for customer service roles, and is equipped with a chat function and lip-reading capabilities.
Earlier this year, "CBS Mornings" spoke with engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who are working to keep America in the robotics race. The world's tech firms are pouring massive sums into physical AI, with Morgan Stanley predicting that the world could have more than a billion humanoid robots by 2050.
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The Chinese government has encouraged domestic firms to develop humanoids, in the hopes of leading the global robotics industry. The AgiBot A2, which stands about five feet and six inches tall, set off from the eastern Chinese city of Suzhou on the evening of November 10, traversing highways and city streets before arriving at Shanghai's historic waterfront Bund area on November 13, according to Guinness World Records.
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