Can Robots Really Run Faster And Jump Higher Than Humans? Beijing Games Say Yes

Chinese humanoid robots have broken human athletic records at the World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing.

The Olympics-style event began on Saturday and features more than 2,000 humanoid robots.

The five-day competition has entered its second edition. It includes 51 events and more than 1,000 contests. Running, table tennis and football feature among the disciplines.

The games highlight China’s rapid advances in robotics amid growing technological competition with the United States.

A humanoid robot completed the 100-metre sprint in 9.39 seconds. That performance surpassed Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt’s human world record of 9.58 seconds, set in 2009.

Another robot recorded a standing high jump of 2.88 metres. It comfortably exceeded the previous humanoid mark of 0.95 metres from last year’s inaugural games.

The robot cleared the human world record of 2.45 metres, established by Cuba’s Javier Sotomayor in 1993. Both record-setting robots came from Beijing-based X-Humanoid.

Before the games officially opened, a humanoid robot developed by Chinese smartphone maker Honor reportedly completed a 100-metre trial in 9.32 seconds. It reached a peak speed of 14.5 metres per second.

Experts caution that humanoid robots remain largely focused on demonstrations, performances and research.

Large-scale real-world deployment will still require further development.

Spectators nevertheless expressed excitement over their rapidly improving capabilities.

The games involve participants from 16 countries, including Germany, Japan and the United States.

Also Read: DeepSeek AI Enters The Hacker’s Toolkit As Threat Actor Automates Offensive Operations