Humanoid robot beats Usain Bolt's 100m world record at Beijing games

At the second World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing, Chinese humanoid robots shattered long-standing human athletic records. The robot Tiangong Ultra completed the 100-meter sprint in 9.39 seconds, while Honor's Lightning robot clocked 9.32 seconds in trials, both beating Usain Bolt's 9.58-second world record. Despite these achievements, experts caution that the demonstrations are publicity stunts lacking real-world utility, even as the U.S. intensifies national security restrictions on Chinese robotics.

Robot 100m sprint records

• ▪The 100-meter sprint results marked a significant improvement from the 2025 inaugural games, where the winning robot Tiangong Ultra completed the 100-meter race in 21.50 seconds.
• ▪During the 100-meter sprint heat on August 22, 2026, the robot Lightning finished in second place with a time of 9.47 seconds after losing its early lead to Tiangong Ultra.
• ▪At the World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing on August 22, 2026, the humanoid robot Tiangong Ultra ran the 100-meter sprint in 9.39 seconds, beating Usain Bolt's human world record of 9.58 seconds.
• ▪The humanoid robot Lightning, developed by Chinese smartphone manufacturer Honor, completed a 100-meter sprint in 9.32 seconds during a trial event at a peak speed of 14.5 meters per second.

World Humanoid Robot Games

• ▪A standing high jump robot developed by Beijing-based X-Humanoid reached 2.88 meters at the games, surpassing Javier Sotomayor's 1993 human world record of 2.45 meters.
• ▪During the 100-meter sprint exhibition, the competing robots crashed directly into a thick stopping mat, with Tiangong Ultra stumbling into the sidelines and Lightning collapsing to the ground.
• ▪The second World Humanoid Robot Games commenced on August 22, 2026, at the National Speed Skating Oval in Beijing, featuring 51 events and drawing 2,056 robots from 666 teams representing 16 countries.

China humanoid robotics industry

• ▪Chinese policymakers and technology companies are promoting humanoid robotics as a strategic emerging industry to accelerate deployment in manufacturing, logistics, and consumer applications.
• ▪To optimize sprinting performance for the games, researchers lengthened the legs of Honor's Lightning robot by 10 centimeters, increasing its leg length from 95 centimeters to 1.05 meters.
• ▪Shares of Chinese humanoid robot maker Unitree surged more than five-fold during its Shanghai trading debut on August 19, 2026, giving the company a market valuation of approximately $50 billion.

US-China robotics technology competition

• ▪Roboticists, including MIT emeritus professor Rodney Brooks, characterized the robot athletic races as publicity stunts, noting that running a known course does not demonstrate real-world utility or safety.
• ▪The U.S. Federal Communications Commission announced a ban on imports of new foreign-made humanoid robots, citing national security risks to critical supply chains.
• ▪The U.S. Department of Defense added Chinese robot manufacturer Unitree to its list of companies deemed to have active ties with the Chinese military.