Chinese robot runs faster than Usain Bolt's record

Developed by the Chinese company Honor, Lightning a humanoid robot, covered 100 meters in 9.32 seconds, breaking Usain Bolt's world record in an initial test. Bolt set the record in 2009 by running 100 meters in 9.58 seconds. This was reported by Securitylab.

During the test, Lightning reached a speed of 14.5 meters per second, or nearly 52 kilometers per hour. However, this result was not an official race time but was recorded during a preparatory test before the games. In the initial stage of the competition, Lightning clocked 9.47 seconds.

The 2nd World Robot Games for humanoid robots, held in Beijing from August 22–26, features 666 teams from 16 countries and a total of 2,056 robots. The program includes 51 types of competitions and 1,301 events.

In addition to running, the robots are demonstrating their capabilities in fields such as soccer, table tennis, weightlifting, martial arts, and dance. They are also being tested on performing various tasks in real-world environments like factories, hotels, homes, and logistics.

On the opening day of the competition, another Chinese robot — Tiangong Ultra covered 100 meters in 9.39 seconds, surpassing Bolt's 9.58-second record. Thus, the robots demonstrated that they are moving faster than the highest human records in short-distance sprinting.