Chinese Robot Beats Usain Bolt's 100m World Record

A humanoid robot developed by Chinese smartphone manufacturer Honor has successfully run 100 metres in 9.32 seconds, according to a report by China’s state television.

The time beats the 100-metre world record still held by Jamaican sprint legend Usain Bolt.

Citing Al Jazeera and CCTV, the robot named Lightning reached a top speed of 14.5 metres per second during a trial event ahead of the second World Humanoid Robot Games, which opened in Beijing on Saturday.

The result surpasses Bolt’s men’s 100-metre world record of 9.58 seconds, set at the World Athletics Championships in Berlin in 2009.

China is pushing the development of humanoid robots as one of its emerging strategic industries. Policymakers and companies in the country believe advances in AI and hardware will accelerate the deployment of humanoid robots in manufacturing, logistics and consumer applications.

Lightning previously won the Beijing half marathon over 21 kilometres in April with a time of 50 minutes 26 seconds. That result was even faster than the average pace required to achieve the men’s human half-marathon world record.

When competing in the half marathon, the Lightning robot stood 169 cm tall with a leg length of 95 cm. Researchers subsequently extended its legs by 10 cm to 1.05 metres ahead of the World Humanoid Robot Games, according to CCTV.