Chinese smartphone maker Honor’s self-developed humanoid robot Lightning ran the 100m in 9.32 seconds, beating the human world record, China’s state broadcaster reported.
The humanoid reached a peak speed of 14.5 metres per second during a preparatory test event for the second World Humanoid Robot Games, which begin on Saturday. This performance surpassed the 9.58sec men’s 100m world record set by Usain Bolt 17 years ago at the World Athletics Championships in Berlin.
China has been promoting humanoid robots as a strategic emerging industry, with policymakers and companies betting that advances in AI and hardware will accelerate their deployment in manufacturing, logistics and consumer applications.
Lightning also won the 21km Beijing half marathon in April in 50 minutes and 26 seconds, faster than the elite men’s human world-record pace. The robot stood 169cm tall and had 95cm legs at the half marathon. Researchers have since lengthened its legs by 10cm for these Games, China Central Television reported.
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