A Chinese humanoid robot broke another 100-meter record on Wednesday at a showcase of China's growing technological prowess, as reported by infohub.kz.
The winning robot finished the 100 meters in 8.64 seconds, breaking a record for the second straight day. A robot ran 8.86 seconds Tuesday, after another clocked 9.39 seconds four days earlier — all at the World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing.
For comparison, the men's 100-meter world record is 9.58 seconds, set by Usain Bolt in 2009.
Several robot runners, including the champion, crashed into a padded barrier after crossing the finish line. Sparks flew from some of the robots as staff rushed over with fire extinguishers and sprayed those machines lying on the ground. Almost all the robot runners were eventually carried away on stretchers.
Robots also competed in real-world tasks, including housework, hotel services and emergency response.
All three records were set by the same humanoid robot model, Tiangong Ultra, developed by the Beijing Innovation Center of Humanoid Robotics, also known as X-Humanoid. The company was founded in Beijing in 2023.