The future of sprinting may be arriving on mechanical legs. At the World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing, China’s Tiangong Ultra humanoid robot reportedly completed the 100 metres in 9.39 seconds, beating Usain Bolt’s human world record of 9.58 seconds.
Developed by the Beijing Humanoid Robot Innovation Center, Tiangong Ultra won its preliminary heat after overtaking Honor’s Lightning late in the race. Lightning finished in 9.47 seconds, meaning both robots recorded times faster than Bolt’s 2009 world record.
FROM 21.50 SECONDS TO 9.39
The most striking aspect of Tiangong Ultra’s performance is how quickly it has improved.
At last year’s inaugural humanoid robot games, the robot completed the 100 metres in 21.50 seconds. Its latest time of 9.39 seconds represents an improvement of more than 12 seconds in just a year.
Tiangong Ultra had also previously won the world's first humanoid robot half-marathon in Beijing.
Lightning had shown considerable speed even before the competition. Chinese state media reported that it had recorded 9.32 seconds during a preparatory run, reaching a peak speed of 14.5 metres per second. It also won this year's humanoid half-marathon in 50 minutes and 26 seconds.
ROBOTS ARE GETTING PHYSICALLY FASTER
Lightning's development illustrates how hardware changes can dramatically affect robotic performance.
The robot originally stood around 169 cm tall with 95-cm legs during the half-marathon. Researchers subsequently increased its leg length by 10 cm before the humanoid games, helping improve its stride and sprinting ability.
The results demonstrate that progress in humanoid robotics isn't coming solely from better AI. Improvements in motors, actuators, balance systems, body design, battery technology and mechanical control are equally important.
CHINA'S HUMANOID ROBOT INDUSTRY IS EXPANDING
China is investing heavily in humanoid robots, viewing them as an important future industry for manufacturing, logistics and potentially consumer applications.
Investor interest has also increased sharply. Unitree, one of China's prominent humanoid robot manufacturers, reportedly saw its valuation surge to around $50 billion following its Shanghai trading debut.
The World Humanoid Robot Games themselves have expanded substantially. This year's competition reportedly featured 2,056 robots representing 666 teams from 16 countries and six continents, compared with 280 teams at the inaugural event.
The competition includes 51 events covering activities such as sprinting, football, dancing and industrial tasks.
The 9.39-second run is therefore less significant as a comparison with human athletics than as a demonstration of how rapidly robotic locomotion is improving. Humanoid robots are moving from simply walking and balancing toward running at extraordinary speeds—and the rate of improvement may be the more important story than the record itself.
A useful next step would be to compare Tiangong Ultra's 9.39-second run with Bolt's biomechanics and the robot's actual running mechanics—that makes the difference between the two much easier to understand.
