Chinese humanoid robots smash human records in 100m sprint and high jump at Beijing robot games
Related Stories Humanoid robots are carried off the track after competing in the 100m race during the World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing, Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2026.
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.
Humanoid robots are carried off the track after competing in the 100m race during the World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing, Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim)
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BEIJING (AP) — Chinese humanoid robots broke records set by humans, including beating Usain Bolt’s 100-meter sprint world record, on the opening day of the Olympics-like World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing on Saturday.
More than 2,000 humanoid robots were participating in the event, the organizer said.
Robots perform with drum during the opening ceremony of the World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing, Saturday, Aug. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim) Last month, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission announced a ban on imports of new foreign-made humanoid robots. The FCC cited national security reasons in a move that targeted China. The Pentagon recently also added Unitree, one of China’s leading humanoid robot makers, to its list of companies that it deemed have ties with the Chinese military. Beijing has hit back at the accusations.
At Saturday’s opening of the robot games, the organizer and robot makers said that Chinese humanoid robots defeated human world records, as hundreds of humanoid robots marched in formation onto the field in a massive display of synchronized coordination.
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