The humanoid robot games in Beijing showed a sharp improvement in speed, jumping and coordination of movement. However, the comparison with human records is not scientific: the rules of competition, the takeoff, the measurement and even the definition of the jump are different
A humanoid robot named Tiangong Ultra Finished the 100-meter dash in a time of 9.39 seconds.World Robot Games בBeijingThe result is 19 hundredths of a second faster than the human world record set by Usain Bolt In 2009, but that doesn't mean the robot broke the world record in athletics.
Tiangong Ultra, developed by the Innovation Center forHumanoid robots In Beijing, known as X-Humanoid, ahead of Honor's Lightning robot, which finished in 9.47 seconds. A Unitree robot finished third in 12.41 seconds.
The most useful comparison is not to Bolt, but to the same robot a year earlier. At the 2025 Games, Tiangong Ultra finished the race in 21.50 seconds. Within a year, the time has been cut by more than 12 seconds—an improvement that illustrates the pace of progress in electric motors, control systems, dynamic balance, and gait and running design.
Even after crossing the finish line, the limitation was revealed: the robots had difficulty slowing down and stopping in a controlled manner and crashed into the cushioned surfaces placed at the end of the track. Speed in a straight line is an important engineering achievement, but a robot designed to work among humans also needs to brake, change direction, avoid obstacles, and maintain stability when the environment is unpredictable.
Not an official athletics record
Bolt's record was set in a World Athletics Association competition, under precise rules that include takeoff position, timing, reaction to the starting gun, permissible wind, and course checks.
In the case of the robot games, a full measurement protocol has not yet been published that would allow for direct comparison. It is unclear, among other things, whether the time includes reaction to the start signal, whether the robots were remotely controlled or operated completely autonomously, and what the limitations of the structure and motors were.
Physiologically, these are also different competitions. The human athlete carries a complete biological system, while the robot was designed for a specific engineering purpose and its legs can be replaced, the gear ratio in the motors can be changed, and the control software can be updated between trials.
Therefore, 9.39 seconds is an impressive result in a robotic competition, but does not erase Bolt's record.
And what about the 2.88 meter jump?
The event organizers also reported that an X-Humanoid robot jumped from the spot to a height of 2.88 meters, compared to 95 centimeters in the games held a year earlier.
Reports compared the result to the world record set by Javier Sotomayor, who jumped over a 2.45-meter high bar in 1993. Here too, the comparison is problematic. Sotomayor performed a high jump after a preliminary run, and his body passed over the bar without falling. The announcement about the robot did not clarify how the height of 2.88 meters was measured — whether it was the height of the bar, the height reached by part of his body, or the overall trajectory of movement.
Without identical rules and a transparent measurement protocol, these are two different metrics.
An experimental laboratory in an Olympic costume
The games, which will be held from August 22 to 26 at the speed skating rink built for the Beijing Winter Olympics, will feature 2,056 robots from 666 teams and 16 countries. The program includes 51 events and 1,301 competitions.
Along with running, jumping, soccer, table tennis, and tug-of-war, tasks that simulate practical work are included: packaging, warehousing, assembly, store service, and firefighting. These tasks may teach more about the robots' ability to integrate into the real world than fast running in a straight line.
Sports competitions provide engineers with a defined environment in which to test balance systems, trajectory planning, joint control, shock resistance, and energy consumption. A fall during a soccer game is not as dangerous as a fall in a factory or at home, but it does expose flaws that need to be addressed before commercial operation.
The road from demonstration to actual work is still long.
Running fast does not necessarily indicate that a robot can perform a complex task for an entire shift. Commercial use requires reliable operation over time, handling unfamiliar surfaces and objects, working safely near humans, and a price that justifies replacing simpler industrial equipment.
Autonomy is also important. A robot that receives precise instructions from an operator or operates on a pre-prepared path is not equivalent to a robot that is able to understand a new situation on its own and make safe decisions.
The Beijing Games do not prove that robots are ready to replace workers or athletes. They do indicate a very rapid improvement in the ability to propel a bipedal mechanical body—an area that until recently was considered one of the most difficult challenges inרובוטיקה.
Questions and Answers
Did the robot really run faster than Usain Bolt? According to the time published by the organizers, yes: 9.39 seconds compared to 9.58. However, the results were not determined by the same rules, so it is not a case of breaking the human track record.
What is the most important achievement? The improvement over last year. Tiangong Ultra's time dropped from 21.50 to 9.39 seconds, indicating rapid progress in control, balance, and propulsion.
Did the robots run autonomously? The reports do not provide complete information about the degree of autonomy and the involvement of operators. Therefore, it should not be concluded from the result alone that the robot made all the decisions itself.
Do the achievements indicate that humanoid robots are ready for work? Not yet. Real-world use requires reliability, braking, safe operation, flexibility, and reasonable cost—measures that are not fully tested in a 100-meter dash.
More on the subject on the science website
- Elon Musk's Tesla Bot Raises Serious Concerns
- The Israeli robotics industry is oriented towards the Chinese vision of robotsה
- A robot that convinced other robots to escape the exhibition
- Robots playing soccer will beat humans in the 2050 World Cup
- A robot that plays soccer won the robotics competition at Haifa University
