Tiangong Ultra breaks Usain Bolt’s 100m record

Tiangong Ultra has taken the headline record at the World Humanoid Robot Games after running faster than Usain Bolt’s 100-metre world mark. The result came in a preliminary race at the second edition of the competition in Beijing, where the Tianzhuo team’s robot finished first.

Tiangong Ultra stopped the clock at 9.39 seconds, improving on Bolt’s 9.58 set at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin. It also lowered its own previous games record of 21.50 seconds. Shandian, representing technology company Honor, finished second in 9.47, while Unitree’s robot was third in 12.41. Tiangong Ultra led Shandian by one body length at the finish after remaining close to its rival for much of the race.

The preliminary event was held during the opening day of the games, which continue through Wednesday at Beijing’s National Speed Skating Oval. The second edition features 666 teams and 2,056 machines, including 25 foreign teams, competing across 51 events and 1,301 contests or sessions. Athletics is part of a wider programme that also includes football, martial arts, table tennis, wrestling and weightlifting.

The performance follows April’s Beijing half-marathon, where Shandian won in 50 minutes and 26 seconds, although that course and the human world record of 57:20 were not directly comparable.