A Chinese humanoid robot developed by the Beijing Humanoid Robot Innovation Center ran 100 meters in 8.86 seconds during Tuesday’s semifinals at the World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing, according to event organizers.
The Tiangong Ultra’s time beat its own opening mark of 9.39 seconds and was more than seven-tenths of a second faster than the human men’s 100-meter world record of 9.58 seconds, set by Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt in 2009. The robot’s performance followed an initial 21.50-second run during last year’s inaugural games.
Honor’s ‘Lightning’ robot, developed by the smartphone manufacturer, recorded 9.47 seconds in a race on Saturday, also surpassing Bolt’s record, though it finished behind Tiangong after leading early in the event. Honor had previously logged a faster 9.32-second time in testing.
Tiangong set additional records in other track events, including 38.15 seconds in the 400 meters, 2 minutes 21.64 seconds in the 1,500 meters, and a 2.88-meter high jump. The robot also won the world’s first humanoid robot half-marathon in Beijing last year with a time of 2 hours and 40 minutes.
The second edition of the Beijing event drew over 2,000 robots from 666 teams competing across 51 categories, including football, dancing, and industrial task challenges. Tiangong completed its sub-nine-second run by striking a thick mat beyond the finish line to decelerate, after which a small fire broke out in the robot’s torso upon impact. In a separate semifinal, another competitor collapsed mid-race.
China has designated humanoid robots as a strategic emerging sector, prioritizing investments in physical artificial intelligence, motors, and sensors for applications in manufacturing, logistics, and services. Baidu and Xiaomi are among the investors in the Beijing Humanoid Robot Innovation Center, according to corporate data provider Qichacha.
