A humanoid robot in a traffic-officer role joined the patrol team at the 2026 Hangzhou Marathon on Sunday, watching intersections and nudging pedestrians around the Huanglong Sports Center in eastern China’s Zhejiang Province.The robot, named Hangxing No. 2, was developed by Hangzhou-based DEEP Robotics with local traffic authorities and joined a four-point patrol team. Its jobs include intersection monitoring, autonomous patrols, traffic-violation warnings and answering public questions, the company said. It was one of the most eye-catching parts of traffic management at this year’s race.Robot behind the badgeHangxing No. 2 is based on DEEP Robotics’ DR02 humanoid, which stands 178 centimeters (about 5 feet 10 inches) tall. It carries an IP66 rating, meaning it is dust-tight and can withstand heavy rain and high-pressure water jets, and it can operate between minus 4 and 131 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 20 and 55 degrees Celsius).A 275 TOPS computing unit and a mix of LiDAR, a depth camera and a wide-angle camera help it see its surroundings.Mobile coverage for blind spotsThe marathon drew more than 300,000 registrations, and 36,000 runners took part. The crowds and shifting movement around the venue put pressure on traditional security systems, which organizers said can’t always cover every blind spot. The robot is meant to turn fixed surveillance points into mobile patrol units, following preset routes and moving between guard posts.It also detects violations such as pedestrians crossing the road and vehicles cutting in, using multi-sensor perception and precise motion control. It makes standard traffic-control gestures and automatically broadcasts safety advisories, which the company says helps police manage pedestrian flows and cuts the load on frontline officers for repetitive roadside tasks.Why a marathon“Marathon security is concentrated in time, with dense crowds and highly repetitive tasks, which makes it a good scenario for robots to take on first,” said Meng Yuan, a DEEP Robotics representative. The deployment, he said, is also an exploration of a standardized model for using humanoids in traffic management at large marathons.Part of wider shiftIt isn’t the first such outing. In April, traffic police “embodied intelligence” robots directed participants at the Beijing Yizhuang Half Marathon. In October, Unitree Robotics unveiled its H2-X humanoid, nicknamed Kung Fu Legend Guardian. The company says it could eventually work in security and rescue, for example by shielding a person from an attack, lifting the front of a car with its bare hands or responding to a simulated traffic accident.Security, inspection, logistics and household services look like early areas for commercial humanoids, said Wang Peng, a research fellow at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences. He said the value of robotics lies in augmenting human capabilities, not replacing workers, and that large events are a useful testing ground because crowds are dense and tasks are clearly defined. Moving from factories to marathon courses, he said, marks a step from technology demonstration to practical application.For now, the performance claims are the company’s. The report doesn’t say how many violations the robot flagged or how closely human officers supervised it.