We've all been there. Puzzled, perplexed, and mildly infuriated by those anti-robot screening quizzes on websites. You know the sort of thing – how many traffic lights, boats, tractors, or whatever can you see in the grainy images? What letters can you make out of the distorted glyphics presented? Would you like a simpler version – oh, yes please!

And that's why, when runABC reporter Alan Newman heard about the world's first half marathon to be held – in China, of course – where 'humanoid' robots will race against humans, his first thought was not to check the date wasn't the 1st of April, but how will the robots answer the question, 'are you a robot', when entering the race?

The half marathon is in April, though not on April Fool's Day. It's the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area (E-Town) Half Marathon and dozens of running robots from more than 20 companies will join up to 12,000 human athletes to run the full 13.1-mile course together!

Last October, a humanoid robot named "Tiangong," developed by China's Embodied Artificial Intelligence Robotics Innovation Center, ran the final 100m at the Yizhuang Half Marathon in Beijing, cheering on human runners.

Tiangong will be among the entrants in April but is unlikely to claim one of the prizes awarded to the top three finishers (male, female, or robot) as its pace is only around 10km/hour, indicating 2:06:36 for the half marathon.

The humanoid robots must resemble humans and move only via bipedal walking or running, rather than on wheels. The robots must be between 0.5m and 2m tall and have a maximum extension distance from the hip joint to the sole of their feet of at least 0.45m. Both remote-controlled and fully autonomous robots will be allowed to participate and operators will be allowed to replace their batteries during the race, according to the local organisers.

Beijing is preparing for more robot-based competitions, including the inaugural World Humanoid Robot Sports Games in August, where robots will be the competitors, along with some events focusing on human-robot interactions, in sports including track and field athletics and football, according to the official website of the Beijing municipal government.

Science fiction becomes science fact. Is this the future of our sport – of all sports? Will there come a time when robots will beat humans in running races and if so, at what distances?

Photo of Tiangong in action by @adnrunner on Instagram