Faceless humanoid robots outran and outperformed human records at the World Robot Games in Beijing over the weekend, in an event that doubled as a showcase of China’s ambitions in the field.
Dozens of humanoids and their human operators gathered at the city’s Olympic speed-skating arena on Sunday to compete across events ranging from athletics and boxing to football and martial arts. The spectacle drew hundreds of spectators and plenty of attention from Chinese state media.
The headline moment came during Saturday’s opening ceremony, when a Chinese robot beat Usain Bolt’s 100-metre record. The white, headless machine, called Tiangong Ultra, finished the sprint in 9.39 seconds, according to state broadcaster CCTV, ahead of Bolt’s best of 9.58 seconds set in 2009. The same model went on to break more records over the weekend.
It is worth keeping the feat in perspective. A robot’s sprint is not a like-for-like comparison with a human’s, and a controlled arena run is a long way from general-purpose capability. But as a demonstration of how fast humanoid hardware is improving, and of how much money and engineering China is pouring into it, the games made the point vividly.
The commercial backdrop underlines the momentum. The robot-maker Unitree surged more than 600 percent on its Shanghai debut, a sign of just how much investor enthusiasm is riding on the sector. The games were part sport, part trade show, and entirely a statement of intent.
