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 that shows how advances in artificial intelligence are making robots more agile.

Last Sunday, at the Beijing E-Town Half Marathon, a red humanoid robot of a type named Lightning finished the course in 50 minutes and 26 seconds—faster than the human world record.

Chinese robots can run and dance but chores still challenging