BEIJING — It was not even close as a bright red Chinese humanoid named “Lightning” lived up to its name in a half-marathon pitting humans against robots, smoking its competition on Sunday

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

A robot built by Sony AI is rapidly learning how to beat the world's very best table tennis players

Incredible footage shows the bot winning three out of five matches against elite players - showing off sophisticated moves including unusual spins and bouncing balls off the net.