Robots have smashed human world records for the 100m sprint and high jump at China’s ‘robot Olympics’ — but the biggest hurdle is stopping safely
- The 2026 World Humanoid Robot Games are happening this week
- Robots are performing better than ever across 51 events
- Stopping a sprinting robot remains a major engineering challenge
The World Humanoid Robot Games are underway in Beijing, China, and records set by flesh and blood humans are tumbling: these bots have now beaten our best efforts at the 100-meter sprint and the high jump.
As the Associated Press reports, the robot record for the 100 meters now stands at 9.39 seconds (beating Usain Bolt's 9.58 seconds), while a humanoid bot has reached 2.88 meters on the high jump (above Javier Sotomayor's 2.45 meters).
This is only the second year of the Robot Games, but the progress from 2025 is noticeable — these robots were only reaching 0.95 meters on the high jump last year, for example. One engineer told the South China Morning Postthat improved networking capabilities, meaning better...
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