Chinese Humanoid Robot Runs 100 Metres in 9.39 Seconds

A Chinese humanoid robot named Tiangong Ultra ran 100 metres in 9.39 seconds on August 22 at the World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing. The time beat Usain Bolt's 2009 human world record of 9.58 seconds by 0.19 seconds.

Honor's Lightning finished second in the same heat at 9.47 seconds, also under the human mark. Both results mark a sharp improvement from the inaugural games a year earlier, when Tiangong Ultra won the same distance in 21.50 seconds.

Tiangong Ultra was developed by the Beijing Humanoid Robot Innovation Center. Organisers said the robot overtook Lightning near the finish after trailing early. More than 2,000 robots from 666 teams competed across events that included boxing, soccer and tennis.

The machines still show clear limits. Tiangong Ultra ended its sprint by running into a padded wall and was carried away by human assistants. Earlier in the year a different robot completed a half-marathon faster than the elite human pace, yet humanoid locomotion remains energy-intensive and fragile outside controlled tracks.

Chinese state media presented the times as evidence of rapid progress in bipedal robotics. Independent observers note that the controlled environment, optimised leg length and absence of human physiological constraints make direct comparison limited. The practical question is how quickly these speeds transfer to uneven ground, load carrying or continuous operation.