China's Tiangong Ultra humanoid robot completed the 100-meter dash in 8.86 seconds at the World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing on Tuesday, breaking its own record of 9.39 seconds set on the opening day of the event.
The time was 0.7 seconds faster than Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt's 2009 world record of 9.58 seconds. Tiangong Ultra, developed by the Beijing Humanoid Robot Innovation Center, achieved the new time in the semifinals of the large-sized robot category.
The rapid improvement of the robots has become a focal point at the second edition of the event in Beijing, where more than 2,000 robots from 666 teams compete in 51 events including soccer, dance, and industrial task challenges.
Last year, Tiangong won the 100-meter event at the inaugural games with a much slower time of 21.50 seconds, a few months after winning the world's first humanoid robot half marathon in Beijing with an amateur time of 2 hours 40 minutes.
“Reading that robots run faster than humans is one thing. Seeing it bolt past during training is another. You realize how impressive it is,” said Li Hui, a 26-year-old engineer from Fudan University's table tennis team.
Tiangong finished the race under 9 seconds by charging into a thick mat placed behind the finish line to stop. A small spark appeared on the robot's body after the impact. In the other semifinal, another robot broke apart mid-race.
The sub-9-second finish came after Tiangong's victory on the opening day on Saturday, when it overtook Honor's Lightning robot in the final stretch after initially lagging behind. Lightning recorded 9.47 seconds, also faster than Bolt's record. Honor had previously clocked a faster 9.32 seconds in a test run.
The Beijing Humanoid Robot Innovation Center said on Tuesday that its Tiangong robots had broken four human world records. In addition to the 100 meters, they also led to times of 38.15 seconds in the 400 meters, 2 minutes 21.64 seconds in the 1,500 meters, and a high jump of 2.88 meters.
The center's shareholder list includes several state-owned enterprises, some investment funds, AI and cloud computing giant Baidu, and the robotics unit of smartphone and EV maker Xiaomi, according to Chinese corporate data provider Qichacha.
China has designated humanoid robots as a strategic emerging industry, as companies and policymakers seek to apply advances in artificial intelligence, motors, and sensors to manufacturing, logistics, and services.
