Robot runs 100m in 8.64 seconds at Beijing games

A Chinese humanoid robot sprinted 100 meters in 8.64 seconds on Wednesday, nearly a full second faster than Usain Bolt's human world record, closing out five days of competition at what has been dubbed the "Robot Olympics" in Beijing.

Record Falls Three Times in Five Days

Tiangong Ultra, developed by the Beijing Humanoid Robot Innovation Centre (also known as X-Humanoid), won the large-size robot 100m final at the second World Humanoid Robot Games, held at the National Speed Skating Oval. The robot improved rapidly through the event, running 9.39 seconds on August 22, 8.86 seconds on Tuesday, and 8.64 seconds in Wednesday's final — breaking its own record on consecutive days.reuters+1

Bolt's human world record of 9.58 seconds has stood since the 2009 world championships in Berlin.

Several robot runners, including the champion, crashed into a padded barrier after crossing the finish line. According to the Associated Press, sparks flew from some machines as staff rushed over with fire extinguishers, and almost all the robot runners were eventually carried away on stretchers.mymotherlode

More Than Speed

The games brought together more than 2,000 robots from 666 teams, most of them Chinese, competing across 51 disciplines. Beyond sprinting, events included soccer, kickboxing, table tennis, and tug of war, as well as task-based challenges in simulated factories, restaurants, offices, and emergency settings.cbc+1

A humanoid robot from X-Humanoid also set a standing high jump record of 2.88 meters, surpassing the human record of 2.45 meters set by Cuba's Javier Sotomayor in 1993.700wlw.iheart

Spectators noted visible improvement from last year's inaugural games. "Last year's robots looked a little stiff and uncoordinated," said a 34-year-old attendee surnamed Niu, according to Reuters. "This year, they are much better. They are like healthy newborn babies growing up."reuters

Practical Ambitions and Geopolitical Tensions

For developers, the games served as a public test bed for embodied artificial intelligence. He Wang, founder and chief technology officer of Galbot, told Reuters the competition would help teams improve their technology. "It will provide a huge boost for industry development," he said.reuters

Dennis Hong of the University of California, Los Angeles, cautioned that humanoid robots remain primarily used for demonstrations and research, noting the challenges of making bipedal robots run at high speeds while maintaining balance and mechanical robustness.700wlw.iheart

The event also carried geopolitical weight. The Associated Press reported that 85 percent of humanoid robots are made in China, and in July the United States banned the import of new Chinese-built humanoid robots, citing national security concerns related to their cameras, microphones, and data-collection capabilities.cbc