Unitree Claims New Humanoid Robot Outruns Usain Bolt
The flashy company, which recently completed a blockbuster IPO, appears to be leading the pack of humanoid robot makers. Edd Gent Aug 24, 2026 Unitree robot sprinting on a track beats Usain Bolt's human speed record.
Key takeaways
- Humanoid robotics is dominating headlines this month as China’s Unitree Robotics celebrated a blockbuster Shanghai IPO that sent its shares soaring more than 460 % above the offer price, while its founder warned that a “ChatGPT moment” for humanoid robots—where they can generalize across tasks and execute precise movements—may still be a decade away.
- The company’s newest “Superman” robot captured global attention at the 2nd World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing, where it sprinted 12.66 metres per second—faster than Usain Bolt’s record pace—and jumped over six feet, setting new benchmarks for speed and agility.
- More than 2,000 robots from 16 countries competed across 51 events, including soccer matches, kickboxing demos and high‑jump challenges, underscoring rapid progress but also highlighting that many robots remain more suited to spectacle than practical work.
- Federal Communications Commission has imposed a ban on new imports of foreign‑made humanoid and quadruped robots, citing national‑security concerns, a move that has drawn sharp criticism from Beijing.
- Industry analysts note that despite these technical feats, humanoids still lag humans in efficiency and learning speed, and Chinese firms such as UBTECH are pushing into emotional‑care applications with lifelike faces, though their market viability remains uncertain.
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The flashy company, which recently completed a blockbuster IPO, appears to be leading the pack of humanoid robot makers.
Edd Gent
Aug 24, 2026
Unitree robot sprinting on a track beats Usain Bolt's human speed record.
Image Credit
Unitree via X
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Increasingly, companies are building humanoid robots that perform impressive athletic feats to mark the field’s progress. Now, Chinese robotics company Unitree says its new "Superman" robot can run 12.66 meters per second, faster than Usain Bolt's top recorded speed. Getting a humanoid robot to run at all requires split-second control and has been a significant engineering challenge occupying roboticists for decades. That’s why sprinting, as well as jumping, have become popular targets for robotics companies keen to demonstrate their technology’s prowess.
Unitree's latest demonstration pushes the boundaries by not only outrunning the fastest human ever, but also jumping around 6 feet 7 inches into the air from a standing start, a full foot more than the human record.
“This new machine has only been in development for a little over three months, with significant room for further improvement in the coming months,” Unitree said in an X post that accompanied a video of the accomplishments. This is leading to an increasingly combative response from the US. On July 29 the Federal Communications Commission banned new imports of foreign-made humanoid and quadruped robots. The move was framed as a matter of national security, though it has also been seen as an attempt to give domestic developers a leg up.
Beijing predictably objected, with foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning telling a press conference that “protectionism does not make the US more competitive, and it will only hurt the interests of US companies and consumers.”
Given the rapid progress made by companies like Unitree, it seems likely it’s going to take more than trade barriers for the US to catch up. In the meantime, we might see more human athletic records fall to China’s leading humanoid developers.
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