Humanoid Robot Breaks Half Marathon Record and Norway Approves Autonomous Buses - Robotics News April 2026

Key points

• •A humanoid robot surpassed the human world record for a half marathon at a challenging Beijing race course with slopes, narrow passages, and 20 turns, where nearly half the autonomous robot field finished the race. This marks a breakthrough in robotic endurance, agility, and autonomous navigation on complex terrain.[Singularity Hub]
• •Norway became the first country to authorize fully autonomous buses to operate on its public roads, advancing the integration of autonomous vehicles into mass public transit. This approval sets a precedent for driverless public transportation safety and regulatory acceptance in Europe.[Futurism]
• •Researchers at the University of Oxford, led by Chenying Liu, are pioneering origami-inspired robots whose physical structures directly contribute to sensing, processing, decision-making, and movement. This innovative design approach enhances robotic versatility by embedding functionalities into the robot’s form, offering new paradigms for soft and adaptive robotics.[Robohub]
• •IEEE Robotics released a new Video Friday edition featuring top robotics highlights including robots competing against professional ping-pong players and previews of major conferences like ICRA 2026 in Vienna and RSS 2026. These resources showcase the latest research breakthroughs, robot performance demonstrations, and industry events that shape robotics development.[IEEE Robotics]
• •OpenAI's ChatGPT Images 2.0 demonstrated strong capabilities in generating detailed images relevant for robotics applications, such as branding, text display, and infographic creation, despite occasional inaccuracies. Such AI-powered visual tools are useful in enhancing robot-human interfaces and operational design elements.[ZDNET Robotics]

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