At the crack of the starter's gun, the robots began taking their first tentative steps as the Chinese pop song "I Believe" blared out from loudspeakers.
Curious humans lined the roadside, phones in hand ready to photograph each machine as it began the race.
One smaller-sized android fell over and lay on the ground for several minutes, before getting up by itself to loud cheers. Another, powered by propellers, veered across the starting line before crashing into a barrier and knocking over an engineer.
Crossing the finish line first despite a mid-race fall was the tallest droid and one of the heaviest in the competition. At 5.9 feet tall and weighing 52 kilograms, the metallic black "Tiangong Ultra" finished in two hours, 40 minutes and 42 seconds.
The men's and women's winners, both from Ethiopia, finished in one hour, two minutes and 36 seconds, and in one hour, 11 minutes and seven seconds respectively, according to state media.
Around 20 teams from across China participated in the competition, with robots ranging from 75 to 180 centimetres tall and weighing up to 88 kilograms. Some jogged autonomously, while others were guided remotely by their engineers. Robots and human participants ran on separate tracks.
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