Chinese Humanoid Robots Break Sprint and Jump World Records at Beijing Games

BEIJING – A humanoid robot from Beijing-based X-Humanoid ran 100 meters in 9.39 seconds on Saturday, beating the 9.58 seconds set by Usain Bolt in 2009, the organizer of the World Humanoid Robot Games said. Another robot from the same company cleared 2.88 meters in the standing high jump, surpassing the human record of 2.45 meters set by Cuba Javier Sotomayor in 1993.

Before the official competition, a robot built by Chinese smartphone maker Honor completed a 100-meter sprint in 9.32 seconds during a trial, the company said. It reached a peak speed of 14.5 meters per second.

The five-day games, now in their second year, feature more than 2,000 humanoid robots across 51 events and over 1,000 competitions at the National Speed Skating Oval built for the 2022 Winter Olympics. The organizer said 16 countries were participating, including Germany, Japan and the United States.

China produces most of the world's humanoid robots. The Us has intensified scrutiny of Chinese robotics companies. Last month, the Federal Communications Commission banned imports of new foreign-made humanoid robots, citing national security reasons in a move that targeted China. The Pentagon added Unitree, a leading Chinese humanoid robot maker, to its list of companies deemed to have ties with the Chinese military, according to the Us Defense Department. Beijing has rejected the accusations.