Humanoid Robot “Lightning” Beats Usain Bolt’s Record, Running 100 Metres in 9.32 Seconds

“Lightning,” a humanoid robot created by Chinese smartphone company Honor, recorded a time of 9.32 seconds in the 100-metre race, surpassing the world record set by Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt.

The performance took place during a trial event for the second World Humanoid Robot Games, which opened in Beijing, and was made public by China’s state broadcaster.

During the race, the robot reached a maximum speed of 14.5 metres per second. Its time was faster than the men’s world record of 9.58 seconds, set by Usain Bolt at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin.

The result follows another successful performance in April, when “Lightning” triumphed in the Beijing Half Marathon. It covered the 21 kilometres in 50 minutes and 26 seconds, a time that, according to Chinese reports, was faster than the human men’s world record for the race.

At that competition, the robot was 169 centimetres tall, while its legs measured 95 centimetres. In preparation for the World Humanoid Robot Games, researchers lengthened its legs by 10 centimetres, bringing them to 1.05 metres.

“Lightning’s” latest result is seen as further evidence of the progress of humanoid robots and their growing ability to imitate human movements.