At an annual robotics showcase in Beijing, humanoid robots competed across events including sprints, standing high jump, kickboxing and dance routines. Several machines reportedly surpassed human world records, including in the 100-meter and 400-meter sprints, while others suffered dramatic falls during the competitions.
cnet.com
· 2026-08-30
At the second World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing (August 22-26), robots competing in a 100-meter sprint and standing high jump beat human world records set by Usain Bolt and others, marking a jump from last year's event where they trailed human performance. Some sprinting robots couldn't stop in time, crashing into barriers, falling, and in a few cases breaking apart with sparks or catching fire, while separate tasks like hanging laundry showed robots still moving far slower than humans.
arstechnica.com
· 2026-08-25
Unitree Robotics released footage of its headless humanoid, Superman, jumping 6.5 feet and sprinting over 28 mph, both exceeding known human records. Two days later the Hangzhou company debuted on Shanghai's stock exchange, with shares spiking 629% above the offer price and pushing its intraday valuation near $66 billion before settling at $50.8 billion.
fastcompany.com
· 2026-08-24
At the World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing, the bipedal robot Tiangong Ultra clocked a 9.39-second 100-meter sprint, edging out Honor's Lightning at 9.47 seconds and both beating Usain Bolt's 2009 world record of 9.58 seconds. Neither robot could stop cleanly, with each crashing into padded foam barriers past the finish line.
tomshardware.com
· 2026-08-23