Unitree unveils a robot it says can run faster than Usain Bolt ahead of its IPO

Another Unitree humanoid robot, the H1, participated in a half-marathon race earlier this year in Beijing.

Ni Yanqiang, Liu Chenyin, Chou Xueyan/Zhejiang Daily Press Group/VCG via Getty Images China is winning the humanoid robot race — literally.

Chinese robotics firm Unitree unveiled a new "Superman" robot that it says is faster than Usain Bolt.

Unitree has shipped thousands more robots than its US rivals, and is set to go public this week at a $9 billion valuation.

China's humanoid robots have mastered kung fu , boxing , and serving your coffee — and now they're leaving the world's fastest man in the dust.

Unitree, a Chinese robotics firm that is set to go public at a $9 billion valuation on Wednesday, unveiled a new "Superman" humanoid robot on Monday that it says can outrun and outjump top human athletes.

The company said the robot, which has been in development for just three months, can reach a top speed of 12.66 meters per second (m/s) — faster than the roughly 12.4 m/s top speed achieved by Usain Bolt during his world-record 100m run in 2009.

Bolt took 9.58 seconds to cover the distance, whereas Unitree's robot would take 7.90 seconds if it maintained its top speed throughout.

Unitree also said that Superman can jump two meters vertically into the air, beating the human world record for a standing high jump.

The robot's unveiling comes ahead of Unitree's much-anticipated IPO on Wednesday.

The humanoid robot manufacturer is set to list in Shanghai in a milestone moment for China's booming robotics industry, with filings suggesting the IPO's retail-investor allocation is more than 5,000 times oversubscribed.

Usain Bolt ran like a machine, but now machines are running faster than the Jamaican sprinter's world-record pace.

Cameron Spencer/Getty Images With its spindly legs and ungainly running style, Unitree's Superman robot is not quite as elegant as its flagship G1 android, a troupe of which wowed onlookers at China's Spring Festival gala with backflips and kung-fu earlier this year.

However, it's more evidence of just how fast China's robotics industry is accelerating.