Chinese robots today set athletic records by humans, including the world record in the 100 metres of Jamaican athlete Usain Bolt, on the opening day of the World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing.
© Reproduction X
22/08/2026
by
Lusa
Na speed test of 100 meters, a humanoid robot reached a time of 9.39 seconds, beating the human record of 9.58 seconds set by Usain Bolt in 2009.
In the high jump from standing position, a humanoid robot managed to reach 2.88 meters, well above the 0.95 meters reached by a robot in the first edition of the games, last year and surpassing the human high jump record of 2.45 meters, established by Cuban Javier Sotomayor in 1993.
Both robots were from the X-Humanoid company, based in Beijing.
Before the opening, a humanoid robot from the Chinese smartphone company Honor completed a 100-metre race in a record time of 9.32 seconds during a game trial, according to the company, at a maximum speed of 14.5 meters per second.
However, experts claim that humanoid robots continue to be used primarily for demonstrations, shows, and research and that it will still take some time to achieve mass deployment in the real world.
More than 2,000 humanoid robots participated in the event, according to the organization.
The games, similar to the Olympic Games, lasting five days and now in their second edition, are a spectacle demonstrating China's rapid progress in advanced robotics as the technological race with the United States (USA) intensified, with 51 races and more than 1,000 competitions taking place, including running, table tennis and football.
The games, which take place at the National Oval of Speed Skating built for the 2022 Winter Olympics, began the same week that Beijing hosted the 2026 World Robotics Conference, where companies presented about 3,000 products.
China manufactures most humanoid robots in the world.
The US has intensified the scrutiny of robots from this country.
Last month, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced the ban on imports of new humanoid robots manufactured abroad.
The FCC invoked national security reasons to a degree aimed at China.
The Pentagon also recently included Unitree, one of the leading Chinese manufacturers of humanoid robots, in its list of companies it considers to have links with the Chinese Armed Forces.
Hundreds of humanoid robots marched in formation to the field in a huge demonstration of synchronized coordination at the opening of the event.
This year’s robot games that, according to the organizer, feature 16 countries, including Germany, Japan and the USA, also include other tests, such as weight lifting.
Look at the video above.