Humanoid robot outruns Usain Bolt record as China races ahead - Fox News
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Key takeaways
- China’s 2026 World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing showcased dramatic strides in humanoid robotics, with the X‑Humanoid “Tiangong Ultra” completing the 100‑metre sprint in 9.39 seconds—faster than Usain Bolt’s 9.58‑second record—and shattering the 400‑metre record at 38.15 seconds.
- The event, which ran from Aug.
- 22‑26 at the former Olympic speed‑skating oval, attracted more than 2,000 robots from over 600 teams, featuring track‑and‑field, boxing, soccer and obstacle‑course challenges, and even highlighted failures such as robots tripping, collapsing or catching fire.
- Analysts note that the rapid performance gains signal major advances in whole‑body control and cloud‑assisted AI, with many robots still relying on 5G‑linked “embodied‑intelligence” systems for real‑time computation.
- The market momentum is reflected in a $2.2 billion valuation for China’s humanoid sector in 2026 and projected 60 % annual growth, while global investors poured a record $33 billion into robotics in 2025‑26, spurring IPOs such as Unitree’s debut.
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If your mental image of a humanoid robot still involves stiff knees and awkward demos, you may want to update it. A Chinese humanoid robot has now covered 100 meters faster than Usain Bolt's 9.58-second human world record. At the opening of Beijing's World Humanoid Robot Games, an X-Humanoid robot completed the 100-meter sprint in 9.39 seconds. Then the number dropped again. ## Last year's winner took more than twice as long
The rate of improvement becomes even clearer when you look back only one year. At the inaugural World Humanoid Robot Games in 2025, the winning 100-meter robot finished in 21.50 seconds.
Now robots from the same development ecosystem are running the distance in less than 10 seconds. That is an enormous leap in a short period. We have already been following this acceleration at CyberGuy. Earlier this year, we showed you a Chinese humanoid called Bolt that reached 22 mph during testing. Running fast looks impressive on video. Yet the technology underneath that speed could become useful in places far removed from a racetrack.
A robot also jumped about 9 feet 5 inches ## Humanoid robots are suddenly getting very fast
The second World Humanoid Robot Games opened Aug. 22 at Beijing's National Speed Skating Oval, known as the Ice Ribbon, and ran through Aug. 26. Organizers registered 666 teams and 2,056 robots for this year's event. The competition included 51 events and 1,301 competition sessions.
The robots compete in track and field events along with challenges designed around real-world jobs. Organizers have also added tests involving physical skills such as weightlifting and tug of war.
That mix tells you something about what China wants these machines to become. The Games give developers a place to push speed and strength. They also expose weaknesses that can be harder to see in a carefully edited demonstration video.
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