{"id":1364,"date":"2026-08-23T11:33:24","date_gmt":"2026-08-23T11:33:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sterlingcooper.info\/blog\/?p=1364"},"modified":"2026-08-23T11:33:24","modified_gmt":"2026-08-23T11:33:24","slug":"robot-beats-world-time-in-a-run-robots-will-dominate-all-sports-soon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sterlingcooper.info\/blog\/robot-beats-world-time-in-a-run-robots-will-dominate-all-sports-soon\/","title":{"rendered":"ROBOT BEATS WORLD TIME IN A RUN, ROBOTS WILL DOMINATE ALL SPORTS SOON?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"dcr-1wkqsgl\" data-gu-name=\"headline\">\n<div class=\"dcr-6mja0y\">\n<h1 class=\"dcr-l0wuod\">Chinese robot runs 100m sprint quicker than Usain Bolt\u2019s world record<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"dcr-o29uhv\" data-gu-name=\"standfirst\">\n<div class=\"dcr-8q9fjy\">\n<ul>\n<li>Lightning the humanoid \u2060robot clocks 9.32sec in Beijing<\/li>\n<li>Quicker than \u200b9.58sec men\u2019s world record set 17 years ago<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"dcr-x3m4c2\" data-gu-name=\"body\">\n<div class=\"dcr-11gq2tx\">\n<div id=\"maincontent\" class=\"dcr-1w2vkyc\">\n<div class=\"article-body-commercial-selector article-body-viewer-selector dcr-1r8ovvy\">\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">A \u2060robot named Lightning \u2060has run \u200bthe 100m in 9.32 seconds, \u2060beating the human world \u2060record, China\u2019s \u200bstate broadcaster \u200chas reported.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">The humanoid, developed by the Chinese smartphone manufacturer Honor, \u200creached a peak speed of 14.5 metres per second during \u200ca test event for \u200bthe second World Humanoid Robot Games, which \u2060began on Saturday. The \u200bperformance surpassed \u200bthe \u200b9.58sec men\u2019s \u200b100m <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/sport\/2009\/aug\/16\/usain-bolt-world-record-100m-world-athletics-championships\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">world record \u200bset \u200bby Usain Bolt<\/a> 17 years ago at the World Athletics Championships in Berlin.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">China has been promoting humanoid robots as an emerging industry, with policymakers and companies \u200cbetting that advances in AI and hardware will accelerate their deployment in manufacturing, logistics \u200band consumer applications.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"e3ae6a05-149c-4dd4-8a6f-27cf9d6e22dc\" class=\"dcr-d9bay7\" data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" data-spacefinder-type=\"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.ImageBlockElement\">\n<div id=\"img-2\" class=\"dcr-1t7hdmw\"><picture class=\"dcr-up96pv\"><source srcset=\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/496f0038ea4e5d1547ab1fb02d2a107becfabba3\/0_0_3573_2382\/master\/3573.jpg?width=620&amp;dpr=2&amp;s=none&amp;crop=none\" media=\"(min-width: 660px) and (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 1.25), (min-width: 660px) and (min-resolution: 120dpi)\" \/><source srcset=\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/496f0038ea4e5d1547ab1fb02d2a107becfabba3\/0_0_3573_2382\/master\/3573.jpg?width=620&amp;dpr=1&amp;s=none&amp;crop=none\" media=\"(min-width: 660px)\" \/><source srcset=\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/496f0038ea4e5d1547ab1fb02d2a107becfabba3\/0_0_3573_2382\/master\/3573.jpg?width=605&amp;dpr=2&amp;s=none&amp;crop=none\" media=\"(min-width: 480px) and (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 1.25), (min-width: 480px) and (min-resolution: 120dpi)\" \/><source srcset=\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/496f0038ea4e5d1547ab1fb02d2a107becfabba3\/0_0_3573_2382\/master\/3573.jpg?width=605&amp;dpr=1&amp;s=none&amp;crop=none\" media=\"(min-width: 480px)\" \/><source srcset=\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/496f0038ea4e5d1547ab1fb02d2a107becfabba3\/0_0_3573_2382\/master\/3573.jpg?width=445&amp;dpr=2&amp;s=none&amp;crop=none\" media=\"(min-width: 320px) and (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 1.25), (min-width: 320px) and (min-resolution: 120dpi)\" \/><source srcset=\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/496f0038ea4e5d1547ab1fb02d2a107becfabba3\/0_0_3573_2382\/master\/3573.jpg?width=445&amp;dpr=1&amp;s=none&amp;crop=none\" media=\"(min-width: 320px)\" \/><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"dcr-up96pv\" src=\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/496f0038ea4e5d1547ab1fb02d2a107becfabba3\/0_0_3573_2382\/master\/3573.jpg?width=445&amp;dpr=1&amp;s=none&amp;crop=none\" alt=\"A robot holding a tennis racket dives for the ball.\" width=\"445\" height=\"296.66666666666663\" \/><\/picture><\/div><figcaption class=\"dcr-174mzkf\" data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\"><span class=\"dcr-1cipnsy\">A robot dives for the ball during a tennis match with a human player in Beijing.<\/span> Photograph: Florence Lo\/Reuters<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Lightning <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/sport\/2026\/apr\/19\/humanoid-robots-race-beijing-half-marathon\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">also won the Beijing half marathon in April<\/a> in 50 minutes and 26 seconds, faster than the men\u2019s world record. The robot stood 169cm tall and \u200bhad \u200b95cm-long legs at \u200bthe half marathon. Researchers have since lengthened \u200bits legs \u200cby 10\u200bcm for these Games.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">More than 2,000 humanoid robots were participating in the five-day games, now in its second year, a spectacle intended to demonstrate China\u2019s rapid progress in advanced robotics as the technology race with the US heats up. There are 51 events and more than 1,000 competitions taking place including running, table tennis and football.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">The games, which are taking place in the National Speed Skating Oval built for the 2022 Winter Olympics, opened the same week as Beijing held the 2026 World Robot Conference, where companies showcased around 3,000 products, including humanoid robots. China makes the majority of the world\u2019s humanoid robots.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Last month, the US Federal Communications Commission announced a ban on imports of new foreign-made humanoid robots. The FCC cited national security reasons in a move that targeted China. The Pentagon recently also added Unitree, one of China\u2019s leading humanoid robot makers, to its list of companies that it deemed have ties with the Chinese military. Beijing has hit back at the accusations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">At Saturday\u2019s opening of the robot games, the organisers and robot makers said that Chinese humanoid robots defeated human world records, as hundreds of humanoid robots marched in formation on to the field in a massive display of synchronised coordination.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">In a standing high jump, a humanoid robot was able to reach 2.88m, well above the 0.95m best result by a humanoid in last year\u2019s first edition of the games . It surpassed the human high jump record of 2.45m set by Cuba\u2019s Javier Sotomayor in 1993. Both robots were from Beijing-based X-Humanoid.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body-commercial-selector article-body-viewer-selector dcr-1r8ovvy\">\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Humanoid robots are \u201cevolving rapidly\u201d, said Li Yanfeng, an education worker and a Beijing resident. \u201cAt first, I wasn\u2019t very accepting of artificial intelligence. I was even a bit resistant to it, because of the possibility that it might replace or displace humans,\u201d she said. \u201cBut now that I see this development is unstoppable, I decided to come and take a look.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Yang Shangzheng, another spectator, said: \u201cThese sports are perfectly normal for humans, but now robots can do them. I find it amazing.\u201d Liu Tao, who was watching the games with his son, said he was hoping to see \u201cthe best robots China currently has to offer\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">This year\u2019s robot games \u2013 which the organisers say has 16 countries participating, among them Germany, Japan and the US \u2013 also includes other events such as weightlifting and tug of war.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Chinese robot runs 100m sprint quicker than Usain Bolt\u2019s world record Lightning the humanoid \u2060robot clocks 9.32sec in Beijing Quicker than \u200b9.58sec men\u2019s world record set 17 years ago A \u2060robot named Lightning \u2060has run \u200bthe 100m in 9.32 seconds, \u2060beating the human world \u2060record, China\u2019s \u200bstate broadcaster \u200chas reported. The humanoid, developed by the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[71],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1364","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-robots"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingcooper.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1364","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingcooper.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingcooper.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingcooper.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingcooper.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1364"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingcooper.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1364\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1365,"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingcooper.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1364\/revisions\/1365"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingcooper.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingcooper.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingcooper.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}