A Chinese humanoid robot ran 100 metres in just 9.39 seconds, faster than Usain Bolt’s famous human world record of 9.58 seconds.
BEIJING: Usain Bolt is still the fastest man in history, but a robot has now run 100 metres faster than his famous world record time. A Chinese humanoid robot completed the sprint in just 9.39 seconds during the World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing, compared with Bolt’s human world record of 9.58 seconds.
The robot, Tiangong Ultra, was developed by the Beijing Humanoid Robot Innovation Center, also known as X-Humanoid. Its performance quickly grabbed attention because it managed to finish the 100 metres faster than the record Bolt set in Berlin in 2009. However, Bolt’s record is not going anywhere. His 9.58 seconds remains the official world record for a human athlete, while the robot’s result is a separate technology achievement.
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Things get even more interesting because another robot has already gone faster. A humanoid robot developed by Chinese technology company Honor completed a 100-metre test run in 9.32 seconds before the competition. During the actual event, Honor’s robot, Lightning, finished in 9.47 seconds, while Tiangong Ultra won with its 9.39-second run.
The Chinese humanoid robot may be fast, but stopping after the finish line is apparently still a work in progress. Tiangong stumbled after completing its sprint, while Lightning also fell and had to be carried away. It was a funny ending to an impressive race and showed that engineers still have plenty to work on when it comes to balance and control at high speeds.
What makes the performance even more impressive is how quickly the technology has improved. Tiangong completed the same 100-metre distance in 21.50 seconds in 2025. In around a year, it has managed to cut more than 12 seconds from that time, showing just how quickly humanoid robot technology is moving forward.
Robots are not only getting better at short races either. Earlier this year, Honor’s Blitz completed a humanoid half-marathon of around 21 kilometres in 50 minutes and 26 seconds, showing that machines are also being tested for speed over much longer distances.
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The World Humanoid Robot Games are giving developers a chance to test their machines in everything from running to other sporting and practical challenges. The Chinese humanoid robot sprint is fun to compare with Bolt, but these competitions have a bigger purpose: finding out how fast, stable and useful humanoid robots can become in the real world.
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Robots are getting faster and more capable in a surprisingly short time. The big story is not whether they can beat human athletes, but how quickly the technology is improving and what these machines could eventually be able to do in everyday life.
