Robots beat human records at Beijing half-marathon; Cracks are starting to form on fusion energy’s funding boom

Robots beat human records at Beijing half-marathon; Cracks are starting to form on fusion energy’s funding boom

From TechCrunch Industry News by TechCrunch

April 20, 2026 · 8 min

About this episode

The episode discusses robots outperforming human records in a marathon and the challenges facing fusion energy funding.

The winning time is a massive improvement over last year’s race, when the fastest robot finished in two hours and 40 minutes. Also, fusion startups and investors risk deepening fissures if some key disagreements aren't settled amicably. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

People in this episode

Host: TechCrunch

Topics covered

  • robots
  • marathon
  • fusion energy
  • funding
  • technology
  • innovation

Keywords

  • robots
  • Beijing half-marathon
  • fusion energy
  • funding boom
  • technology

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: fusion energy, fusion startups, investors

Places: Beijing

More episodes of TechCrunch Industry News

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the TechCrunch Industry News podcast page.