A humanoid ran 100 meters in 9.39 seconds. Bolt's record still stands.
A robot clocked 9.39 seconds at Beijing's World Humanoid Robot Games, faster than Usain Bolt's 9.58. It was a robot-event result, not a human athletics record or a like-for-like race.
- What happened: The 9.39-second run opened the second World Humanoid Robot Games, which drew 2,056 robots from 666 teams across 51 events.
- What the headline changes: Bolt still holds the men's 100-meter world record. A machine running at a robotics event is not eligible for a human athletics record, even when its clock time is lower.
- Was it autonomous?: The official rules require full autonomy for most events but exempt the 100-meter race and 400-meter hurdles. Reports of the 9.39 run do not establish that it was fully autonomous.
- What it does show: The demonstration is a striking speed milestone for humanoid hardware. It does not by itself measure reliability, navigation, endurance or performance under human competition rules.