First there was RoboCup, in which teams of robots kicked soccer balls around indoor fields. And now, as I write these words, five robots are competing in Robo Mara Full, the world’s first marathon for our plastic and metallic friends.

This video shows the competitors in a practice run:

Funded by the city government of Osaka, Japan, and organized by the robotics company Vstone, the race began on Thursday. These robots aren’t exactly speed demons–the winner is expected to finish sometime on Sunday. The race is taking place on an indoor track at Osaka’s Asia-Pacific trade center, a business complex in Osaka. Tto complete the 26.2-mile marathon, the robots will have to make it around the track 422 times.

The competition is a cross between a traditional, human-run marathon and a NASCAR race: The robots must complete the marathon without the help of humans, but the teams are allowed to switch out their robots’ batteries and to make repairs. If you think it’s not fair that the engineers get to repair their robots during the marathon, keep in mind that the time taken for these repairs counts in the racing time.

To warm up for the big race on Thursday, ...