It took 17 years to find anything in the world that can run the 100 meters faster than Usain Bolt, but a humanoid robot created in China finally did it.
A humanoid robot ran the 100 meters in 9.39 seconds at the World Humanoid Robot Games on Saturday, breaking the human world record of 9.58 seconds set by Bolt at the 2009 World Championships.
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That wasn’t the only time one of the robots surpassed a world record set by a human.
Per Achmad Ibrahim and Chan Ho-Him of the Associated Press, a humanoid robot hit 2.88 meters in the standing high jump. The human record is 2.45 meters set by Cuba’s Javier Sotomayor in 1993.
Ibrahim and Ho-Him noted both of the robots that broke the records are from X-Humanoid, which is based in Beijing.
The World Humanoid Robot Games are an Olympic-like event featuring humanoid robots. Saturday marks the first day of the 2026 Games, which are scheduled to run through Aug. 26.
After having more than 280 teams from various universities and private companies in 2025, the field has expanded significantly this with 666 teams and 2,056 robots competing.
There are 30 competitive sporting events taking place over the five days. Track and field, dance, wushu and gymnastics are among the disciplines in the competition.
