Chinese humanoid robot breaks Usain Bolt's 100m record at 9.39 seconds | Fox News
UNITREE G1 HUMANOID ROBOT ICE SKATES AND ROLLERBLADES Staff members move a humanoid robot onto a stretcher after a race at the World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing.
Key takeaways
- Humanoid robots are again making headlines after a Beijing demonstration on August 25, 2026 in which a Chinese robot completed the 100‑metre sprint in just 8.86 seconds, shattering the previous human record and even beating earlier robot times reported at 9.39 seconds. The same event featured a robot high‑jump of 2.88 metres, surpassing the human world record of 2.45 metres, and a half‑marathon run that outpaced the best human time. The showcase, part of the second World Humanoid Robot Games, attracted more than 2,000 robots and drew global media attention.
- Meanwhile, Chinese robotics firm Unitree Robotics, the maker of several of the record‑setting machines, saw its Shanghai IPO surge more than 460 percent on debut and is now forecasting annual humanoid shipments of about 50,000 units for 2026, up from 12,000 in 2025. Despite the rapid progress, Unitree’s founder Wang Xingxing cautioned that humanoid robots may still be a decade away from achieving a “ChatGPT moment,” noting that current systems struggle to generalise across unfamiliar tasks and to execute precise movements.
UNITREE G1 HUMANOID ROBOT ICE SKATES AND ROLLERBLADES
Staff members move a humanoid robot onto a stretcher after a race at the World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing.
Staff members move the humanoid robots onto stretchers after they crashed into the blue-cushioned wall at the National Speed Skating Oval in Beijing, China, on Aug. 22, 2026. (Florence Lo/Reuters)
"At first, I wasn’t very accepting of artificial intelligence. I was even a bit resistant to it, because of the possibility that it might replace or displace humans," she said. "But now that I see this development is unstoppable, I decided to come and take a look."
"These sports are perfectly normal for humans, but now robots can do them. I find it amazing," said Yang Shangzheng, another spectator. Humanoid robots show they can beat the world's fastest man reach in the 100-meter dash, but they cannot stop without a blue wall. (Tingshu Wang/Reuters)
In a standing high jump, a humanoid robot was able to reach 2.88 meters, well above the 0.95 meters best result by a humanoid in last year’s first edition of the games. It surpassed the human high jump record of 2.45 meters set by Cuba’s Javier Sotomayor in 1993.
Some spectators at the robot games said they were excited about the humanoid robots’ quickly improving abilities.
Humanoid robots are "evolving rapidly," said Li Yanfeng, an education worker and a Beijing resident.
UNITREE G1 HUMANOID ROBOT ICE SKATES AND ROLLERBLADES After smashing into the wall, the robots were placed on a stretcher, unlike Bolt, who was able to jog a lap to celebrate human achievement in 2009.
ROBOTS BEAT HUMANS IN HALF MARATHON
Lightning and Tiangong Ultra humanoid robots race 100 meters at the National Speed Skating Oval in Beijing.
Spectators watch as a Lightning humanoid robot by Honor and a Tiangong Ultra humanoid robot compete in a 100-meter exhibition race during the opening ceremony for the second World Humanoid Robot Games at the National Speed Skating Oval in Beijing, China, on Aug. 22, 2026. (Florence Lo/Reuters)
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