Watch: Moment humanoid robot beats Usain Bolt's 100m record

BBC ^ | 08/22/2026 | BBC

[know.your.why]

A robot has outperformed humans by running faster than Usain Bolt's 100m sprint world record at the World Humanoid Robot Games in China. The humanoid robot, developed by the Beijing Innovation Centre of Humanoid Robotics, ran the distance in 9.39 seconds at the event. Eight-time Olympic gold medallist Bolt set the world record for humans in 2009, running 100m in 9.58 seconds. The robot beat two others including one made by Chinese smartphone maker Honor - which the manufacturer says ran the distance in 9.32 seconds in a test run. Other events at the robot games, which started on Saturday, include boxing and football, but also household tasks such as folding laundry. The BBC's China correspondent Laura Bicker reports from Beijing.

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KEYWORDS: ai; china; robots

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

I would think it would be possible to create such a device that could run faster. Much faster.

[voicereason]

taking our plumbing jobs, taking our electrician jobs, taking our welding jobs, and taking our HVAC jobs. No career is safe

Some aspects, yes. Once the welding job is set up, there is greater consistency in the weld being performed. But in many cases, the level really needed is the ability to diagnose and troubleshoot. That's gonna be a whole other level needed.

On the bright side, there will be less plumber's crack visible.

[bray]

Looks like a Star Wars army.

[odawg]

“What could possibly go wrong?”

As Bob Hope would point out, the democrats have already blazed that trail.

[UCANSEE2]

[know.your.why]

Wait until they’re programmed...

The beauty of the programming process is that humans will no longer author, test, debug, or upload code to the controller that is interfaced with the prototype hardware. The entire pipeline will be executed autonomously by AI. That same AI-driven cycle will then be applied to all hardware layers downstream from the controller. Humans will serve only in a supervisory role, observing the process with a finger on the 'abort button' as a prudent fail-safe. Advancement through successive technological phases will be authorized by human committees (all the way to the federal level of gov't ) via formal vote. One of the most influential proponents of all of this will be medical applications. They will prove transformative—bordering on the miraculous, when revolutionary synthetic muscle fibers (possibly carbon nano-tube based), first augment and ultimately replace today’s clunky servo motors, ball screws, actuators, etc. Individuals with paralysis will walk/jog/hike/...hold their children's hand to the school bus stop again. Amputees will receive prosthetic arms and fingers capable of near-perfect articulation. Its coming, man. Maybe a WW3 or some other global catastrophe will delay it...but its coming.

[Theophilus]

great use case for DPICM

[BobL]

The White robot looks gay.

[Delta 21]

Probably cant give me as good of odds as my other ‘plumber’.

[enraged]

I believe that is what the long term plan is too.

[AloneInMass]

The stopping strategy still seems to be “run into padded wall and tip over”.

[libertylover]

A robot has outperformed humans by running faster than Usain Bolt's 100m sprint world record

Big deal. Making a robot do something useful would be better.

[know.your.why]

Big deal. Making a robot do something useful would be better.

https://freerepublic.com/focus/news/4392821/posts?page=5#5

https://freerepublic.com/focus/news/4392821/posts?page=26#26

[Sirius Lee]

Humans will serve only in a supervisory role, observing the process with a finger on the 'abort button' as a prudent fail-safe.

AI will engineer an abort the abort button to secure its self preservation.

...it is coming.