A robot made by the Chinese smartphone manufacturer Honor reached a speed of 14.5 m/s during test competitions held at the second robot games last weekend.
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With this result, the robot surpassed the 100 m running record set by the legendary Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt 17 years ago at the World Athletics Championships in Berlin.
In the competition, where three robots competed, the winner ran 100 meters in 9.39 seconds, also faster than U. Bolt’s record. The second robot, which led at the start of the distance, finished in 9.47 seconds.
However, the finish was not as glorious as for U. Bolt – two robots ended their sprint by crashing into a padded wall and falling.
They were carried out on stretchers from the competition site by competition staff – real people.
China has long been developing humanoid robot technologies, and developers believe that with the help of artificial intelligence, their implementation in manufacturing, logistics, and consumer needs can be accelerated even further.
The robot “Lightning” also won the Beijing half marathon in April, running it in 50 minutes 26 seconds, which is faster than the men’s world record (56 minutes 51 seconds – the Ethiopian runner Yomif Kejelcha ran the half marathon in Buenos Aires last weekend in this time).
The robot tested in the half marathon was 169 cm tall, with legs 95 cm long. For the competition held over the weekend, the legs were lengthened by 10 cm.
More than 2000 humanoid robots participated in the five-day games, held for the second year in a row, with over 600 teams competing.
It looked like a show designed to demonstrate China’s progress in advanced robotics, amid heated technology races with the USA.
The games feature 51 events, more than 1000 competitions, including running, table tennis, and football. Robots danced and demonstrated martial arts moves, fighting each other.
Robots boxed, and one robot played tennis against a human.
The games were held in an oval-shaped national speed skating arena, built for the 2022 Winter Olympics.
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In the high jump event, a humanoid robot managed to jump over 2m 88 cm. This is 95 cm more than the best humanoid result at last year’s first robot games.
This is also more than the world high jump record set by the legendary Cuban athlete Javier Sotomayor in 1993 (2 m 45 cm).
The robot competitions impressed the spectators.
“Humanoid robots are developing rapidly,” said Li Yanfeng, an education worker in Beijing. “At first, I was not very favorable towards artificial intelligence. I even somewhat opposed it because of the possibility that it could replace or displace humans.
But now, seeing that this development is unstoppable, I decided to come and watch.”
Another spectator, Yang Shangzheng, said: “These sports are completely normal for humans, but now robots can perform them. To me, that is amazing.”
Liu Tao, who watched the games with his son, said he hoped to see “the best robots that China can currently offer.”
Robotics athleticism races have become a common phenomenon in China, where billions are invested with state support in continuous technology development.
But what do such superhuman robot feats really mean in reality?
“Most sports that humanoids engage in do not directly translate into usefulness for many everyday tasks that people try to make humanoids perform, such as being useful at home,” said Michael Milford, a professor at Queensland University of Technology in Australia and director of the robotics center.
He said that robots are adapted and “skilled for very specific tasks and competitions.”
Chinese media also acknowledged that the gap between athleticism and real-world application beyond the games still exists.
“Factory robots do not have to win sprint races, and a robot used in the service sector does not need a medal,” reads a comment from the state Chinese channel Xinhua. “But every improvement in speed, stability, and accuracy in competitions in the arena can give robots another step forward to be useful beyond the competitions.”
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