Chinese robot beats Usain Bolt's 100m world record

A Chinese humanoid robot named Lightning set a new world record for the 100-meter race, completing it in 9.32 seconds, according to Chinese media reports on Saturday. This surpassed the previous human record set by Jamaican Usain Bolt at the World Athletics Championships in Berlin in 2009, where he clocked in at 9.58 seconds. The robot's performance was during the second World Humanoid Robot Games that kicked off in Beijing on Saturday.

The event brought together technology companies and university groups from around the world to showcase the capabilities of their robots. Lightning's impressive speed is seen as a significant milestone in the field of artificial intelligence, as earlier versions of humanoid robots were struggling to finish a race at all. The robot, developed by Chinese smartphone manufacturer Honor, also won the Beijing half-marathon earlier this April, finishing in 50 minutes and 26 seconds.

This was several minutes faster than the current human world record holder, Jacob Kiplimo of Uganda, who ran the same distance in 57 minutes in Lisbon in March. Lightning stood 169 centimeters tall and had 95-centimeter legs during the half-marathon. To prepare for the World Humanoid Robot Games, Lightning's legs were extended by 10 centimeters to 1.05 meters.