Chinese robot beats Usain Bolt’s 100m record

A Chinese humanoid robot named Lightning completed a 100-meter practice race in just 9.32 seconds, surpassing the previous human world record set by Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt at 9.58 seconds, according to Chinese media on Saturday. The robot's record time marked a remarkable 0.26-second improvement over Bolt's previous mark, which was achieved during the World Athletics Championships in Berlin in 2009.

Lightning's demonstration of speed was part of the second World Humanoid Robot Games that commenced in Beijing on Saturday. The event brought together numerous technology companies, primarily Chinese, and university groups to showcase the various capabilities of their robots. The robot's exceptional performance is a significant milestone in the realm of artificial intelligence, as previous generations of humanoid robots struggled to complete a race just a year earlier.

Developed by the Chinese smartphone manufacturer Honor, Lightning also won the Beijing half-marathon earlier this April, finishing the 21-kilometer race in 50 minutes and 26 seconds, several minutes faster than the human world record holder, Uganda's Jacob Kiplimo, who ran the same distance in 57 minutes and 20 seconds during Lisbon's race in March.

Lightning stood at 169 centimeters tall, with legs measuring 95 centimeters each during the half-marathon. The robot's legs were extended by 10 centimeters to 1.05 meters in preparation for the World Humanoid Robot Games.