Humanoid robots shatter human sprint records at Beijing games

Chinese humanoid robots broke multiple records set by human athletes, including Usain Bolt's 100-meter world record, on the opening day of the World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing on Saturday. The second edition of the five-day event, described as Olympics-like, features more than 2,000 robots competing in 51 events and over 1,000 competitions, according to the organizer and multiple reports.

At a 100-meter sprint, a humanoid robot crossed the finish line in 9.39 seconds, beating the human record of 9.58 seconds set by Bolt at the 2009 World Athletics Championships in Berlin. The robot, named Lightning Bolt, was developed by Beijing-based X-Humanoid and competed in the race on Saturday, as reported by the Associated Press. In a separate preparatory test, another robot named Lightning—developed by Chinese smartphone maker Honor—completed the 100 meters in 9.32 seconds, reaching a peak speed of 14.5 meters per second, according to China's state broadcaster and reported by ABC Australia, Al Jazeera, and Deutsche Welle.

The 9.32-second run was 0.26 seconds faster than Bolt's record. During the race, Lightning won its preliminary heat with a late surge, overtaking Honor's Lightning, which finished in 9.47 seconds—also faster than Bolt's record. Both performances marked a dramatic improvement from the inaugural games in 2025, when the winning robot completed the 100 meters in 21.50 seconds, as noted by India Today and Moneycontrol.

High jump and 400m records also fall

The record-breaking continued beyond the sprint. A humanoid robot achieved a standing high jump of 2.88 meters, surpassing the human world record of 2.45 meters set by Cuba's Javier Sotomayor in 1993, according to the Associated Press. Both the sprint robot and the high jump robot were from Beijing-based X-Humanoid, as several outlets reported.

A humanoid robot also ran the 400 meters in 39.7 seconds, faster than Wayde van Niekerk's world record of 43.03 seconds, according to Reuters reporting carried by SBS Australia and The Straits Times. Separate reports, including from Bangkok Post, gave a different time for the 400m—38.15 seconds—also beating van Niekerk's record, with the same robot model involved.

Robots struggle with braking, catch fire

While the robots demonstrated unprecedented speed, handling the finish line proved less graceful. Several robots crashed into a thick blue mat placed several meters after the finish line, indicating a braking issue, as reported by Fox News and africa.businessinsider.com. A robot briefly caught fire after crashing, before being doused with a fire extinguisher. After the sprint, robots were carried off the track on a stretcher, in contrast to Bolt's celebratory lap after his 2009 record. Some robots lost limbs in the crashes, according to africa.businessinsider.com, and at least one robot competing for Japan's GMO Internet Group collapsed and was removed from the track.

Games showcase practical skills beyond sports

The games, held at Beijing's National Speed Skating Oval built for the 2022 Winter Olympics, combine sports events with scenario-based contests simulating factory floors, restaurants, offices, and emergency situations. More than 40% of the events require robots to operate fully autonomously, according to Huawei, a tech partner of the games. New competitions this year include tug-of-war, weightlifting, tennis, and traditional Chinese martial arts, along with the 30 sports competitions and 21 scenario-based contests.

The event also featured the world's first human-robot tennis match, with a robot developed by Beijing-based Galbot trading forehands and backhands with human players. The robot lost its balance during the demonstration but recovered and resumed playing, according to South China Morning Post.

China's robotics push amid US scrutiny

The games opened the same week as the 2026 World Robot Conference in Beijing, where companies showcased around 3,000 products, including humanoid robots. China makes the majority of the world's humanoid robots, as reported by the Associated Press and several other outlets.

The United States has increased scrutiny of Chinese robotics. Last month, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission announced a ban on imports of new foreign-made humanoid robots, citing national security reasons in a move that targeted China. The Pentagon added Unitree, one of China's leading humanoid robot makers, to its list of companies with ties to the Chinese military, according to multiple reports. Beijing has rejected the accusations, with a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman saying China opposes the U.S. overstretching the concept of national security and going after Chinese companies, as quoted by UPI News.

Experts caution on practical limits

Despite the record-breaking performances, experts caution that humanoid robots are still mostly used for demonstrations, performances, and research, as reported by The Globe and Mail and The Canberra Times. The limitations in underlying AI systems have so far prevented widespread adoption in real-world settings, according to africa.businessinsider.com.

Spectators at the games were nonetheless impressed. "The intensity is higher than last year, which places significant demands on the robot's battery management and thermal dissipation capabilities," said Xu Qiaosheng, a spectator and robotics investor, as quoted by Reuters. "It holds huge significance for the development of China's industrial sector."

Shota Takizawa, a senior research engineer at Japan's GMO Internet Group, told reporters his company "does not aim to develop robots specialised in races, but plans to utilize know-how" from the competitions for practical use in the future, according to Bangkok Post.

The games run through August 26.