Chinese Humanoid Sets New 100‑Meter Sprint Record, Outpacing Bolt

In 2009, Usain Bolt established the men’s 100‑meter world record at 9.58 seconds during the World Athletics Championships in Berlin. On Saturday, a Chinese‑built humanoid robot from X‑Humanoid surpassed that mark by 0.19 seconds, as reported by state media. The robot struck a padded wall at full speed, toppled, and was subsequently removed by human assistants.

Marked displays of robotic athleticism are now commonplace in China, where a rapidly expanding humanoid robotics sector benefits from robust state backing and substantial investment. Such robots have previously performed dances and martial‑arts routines at major national events.

During the weekend World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing, the machines contested boxing and soccer matches. One participant faced a human opponent in a tennis match, maneuvering across the court and positioning itself to return volleys. Earlier this year, another robot completed a marathon in a time that exceeded the fastest human performance.

What practical value do these robotic superhuman feats represent?

“Most of the activities demonstrated by these humanoids do not directly translate into utility for everyday tasks such as household chores,” said Michael Milford, professor and director of the robotics centre at Queensland University of Technology in Australia.

They are “capable only in narrow, somewhat contrived events,” he added.

Chinese media has likewise highlighted the disconnect between athletic performance and practical application in its coverage of the games.

“A factory robot does not need to win a sprint, nor does a service robot require a medal,” a commentary in Xinhua, the state news agency, observed. “However, each improvement in speed, stability, and precision on the competition floor can bring robots one step closer to genuine utility beyond the arena.”

Despite the lack of large‑scale, proven real‑world applications, these high‑profile demonstrations and the resulting public interest are already yielding benefits. Unitree Robotics, a humanoid robotics firm renowned for viral videos of its robots performing kung fu, kickboxing and backflips, and which prominently featured at last year’s Humanoid Robot Games, listed on the Shanghai stock exchange last week. Its shares rose more than 460 percent on the first day of trading.

Progress Amid Imperfection

Alan Fern, a robotics professor at Oregon State University, was a member of the team that established the Guinness World Record for the fastest two‑legged 100‑meter run by a robot in 2022, clocking 24.73 seconds. Reducing that time to 9.39 seconds, as achieved by X‑Humanoid, represents an “enormous achievement,” he said.

He also noted that robotics firms have become adept at creating machines capable of running, jumping and performing acrobatics within controlled settings. He added that incremental gains in these displays largely stem from improved hardware and refined control systems, rather than fundamental technological breakthroughs.

He found the robot that played tennis against a human at the Beijing games more impressive because it had to interact with an unpredictable opponent.

While most robots struggle to adapt to dynamic environments, this tennis robot had to track a fast‑moving ball, determine its positioning, coordinate its body movements and time its strike.

The robots remain imperfect, with a series of accidents occurring throughout the games; footage showed machines falling, igniting small fires and colliding with objects.

One machine’s distinctive running posture, with its arms raised near its face, prompted the moniker “shy robot” on the Chinese social platform Weibo. Many racing robots also appeared unable to decelerate independently and instead halted by colliding with padded barriers.

Mr. Fern added that the vision of humanoid robots eventually performing any human task remains distant.

“Beyond entertainment and a limited set of tightly constrained industrial applications, these robots currently lack the general‑purpose intelligence and reliability required to operate safely in messy real‑world environments,” he said.

Mr. Milford cautioned that it may take many years before robots can safely and reliably operate in everyday settings.

He drew a parallel to self‑driving cars: three or four decades ago a driverless vehicle could traverse a continent on highways, yet only recently has the technology matured to the point of broad, largely incident‑free deployment.

Mr. Fern suggested that car racing offers a comparable analogy. “We continue to marvel at Formula 1 engineering feats, and some of those advances eventually find other applications, but we do not treat every faster lap as a transport revolution,” he said.

“Likewise, surpassing Bolt’s time does not imply that the robot has overtaken humans in general locomotion capabilities,” he added.

Mr. Bolt did not respond to a request for comment.

Siyi Zhaocontributed research.

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