Chinese humanoid robot runs 100 metres in 9.39 seconds, faster than Usain Bolt

A humanoid robot developed in Beijing ran 100 metres in 9.39 seconds on Saturday, faster than the men's world record of 9.58 seconds set by Usain Bolt in 2009.

Tiangong Ultra, built by the Beijing Humanoid Robot Innovation Center, won its preliminary heat at the opening of the second World Humanoid Robot Games. It overtook Honor's Lightning near the finish line. Lightning crossed in 9.47 seconds, also under Bolt's mark.

The games are taking place at Beijing's National Speed Skating Oval and feature more than 2,000 robots from 666 teams across 16 countries. Last year, at the inaugural event, the same Tiangong Ultra model took 21.50 seconds to cover the distance.

Both robots ended the race by slamming into a thick mat. Tiangong Ultra stumbled into the sidelines. Lightning collapsed and was carried away on a stretcher.

Chinese state media earlier reported that Lightning had posted 9.32 seconds in a preparatory test, with a peak speed of 14.5 metres per second. The robot also won this year's humanoid half-marathon in 50 minutes and 26 seconds.

China has identified humanoid robots as a strategic industry. The rapid improvement in speed from one year to the next points to advances in actuators, balance control and AI-driven gait planning. Unitree Robotics, another competitor, saw its shares rise more than fivefold on its Shanghai debut, valuing the company near $50 billion.

The results do not translate directly to everyday tasks. The robots still lack the recovery and adaptability of human athletes. Yet the gap in pure sprint times has closed in a single year, a concrete data point for the pace of hardware and software progress in the sector.