Humanoid Robots in Beijing Shatter Usain Bolt's Records and the World High Jump Record

Beijing is currently hosting the World Humanoid Robot Games — the second edition of this event. According to organizers, 666 teams and 2,056 bipedal robots from 16 countries are taking part this year, roughly four times more than at last year's inaugural tournament.

Alongside teams from the US, Germany and Brazil, the games feature a strong contingent from the host nation — China alone has entered 641 teams and 1,965 robots representing local companies, universities and research institutes. The program covers 50 disciplines: 30 sporting events, including running, long jump, high jump, table tennis, weightlifting and tug of war, plus around 20 practical tasks such as parts assembly, cleaning, book sorting and emergency response in settings designed to mimic factories, hotels and residential buildings.

Robots outrun Bolt over 100 meters

According to Huawei, one of the event's partners, more than 40% of the robots competing operated fully autonomously. Not everything went smoothly, however — after finishing their sprints, some machines failed to brake in time and slammed into the crash mats, while others simply toppled over and broke apart.

On Saturday, two humanoid robots beat Usain Bolt's 100-meter world record. The Lightning robot, built by Chinese company Honor, completed the distance in 9.32 seconds, reaching a top speed of 14.5 meters per second.

Records fall over 400 meters and in the high jump

The human world record over 400 meters, held by South Africa's Wayde van Niekerk at 43.03 seconds, also didn't survive the weekend. China's Tiangong robot ran the distance in 39.7 seconds on Saturday, then improved its own result to 38.15 seconds on Sunday.

The high jump produced its own sensation, as another Chinese robot smashed last year's tournament record by 0.95 meters, clearing the bar at 2.88 meters. That's far beyond the human world record of 2.45 meters, set by Cuba's Javier Sotomayor back in 1993.

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Source: seznamzpravy.cz