On Saturday, two robots ran faster than Usain Bolt’s 9.58-second world record in the 100m sprint. That was a sharp improvement from 2025, when the winning robot’s time was more than 20 seconds. Braking was an issue, as the machines slammed into a thick mat that organisers placed several metres after the finish line.
Another humanoid, the same model as the 100m champion, ran 400m in 39.7 seconds, faster than South African Wayde van Niekerk’s world record of 43.03 seconds.
„The intensity is higher than last year, which places significant demands on the robot’s battery management and thermal dissipation capabilities,“ said spectator and robotics investor Xu Qiaosheng.
„It holds huge significance for the development of China’s industrial sector.“
Robots will compete in tug-of-war and weightlifting, while Tai Chi and pitch-pot – in which contestants throw arrow-like sticks into a narrow-necked vase – will give traditional Chinese sports a futuristic twist.
BIG TESTS IN SMALL IMPERFECTIONS
Beyond the spectacle, the more revealing tests could come when robots encounter the small imperfections of the physical world: a cable at the wrong angle, an object just out of reach, a shifting package or a missed step.
That tests whether robots can identify objects, accurately position their hands and bodies, apply controlled force and recover from errors without human intervention.