Chinese robot beats Usain Bolt’s 100m world record in test run

A humanoid robot developed by Chinese smartphone maker Honor ran 100 metres in 9.32 seconds, China’s state broadcaster reported on Saturday, beating the human world record held by Jamaican sprinting great Usain Bolt.

The robot, dubbed Lightning, reached a peak speed of 14.5 metres per second during a preparatory test event for the second World Humanoid Robot Games, which opened in Beijing on Saturday.

The performance surpassed the 9.58-second men’s 100-metre world record set by Bolt at the World Athletics Championships in Berlin in 2009.

China has been promoting humanoid robots as a strategic emerging industry, with policymakers and companies betting that advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and hardware will accelerate their deployment in manufacturing, logistics and consumer applications.

Lightning also won the 21km Beijing half marathon in April in 50 minutes and 26 seconds, faster than the elite men’s human world-record pace.

The robot stood 169cm tall and had 95cm legs at the half marathon.

Researchers have since lengthened its legs by 10cm to 1.05m ahead of the World Humanoid Robot Games, China Central Television reported.