A humanoid robot developed by Chinese company X-Humanoid ran the 100-meter dash in 9.39 seconds, beating Usain Bolt's 2009 world record of 9.58 seconds set in Berlin. The robot finished by slamming into a padded wall and being carried away. The feat occurred at the World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing, where robots also boxed, played soccer, and one returned tennis volleys against a human opponent. Earlier this year, another robot ran a marathon faster than any human.

Experts question the real-world utility of such athletic displays. Jonathan Roberts, a professor and director of the robotics center at Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, said most robotic sports don't translate to mundane household tasks. Chinese state media Xinhua acknowledged the gap, noting factory robots don't need sprint speed, but competition gains can advance general usefulness.

Despite limited proven applications, investor interest is surging. Unitree Robotics, known for viral videos of robots doing kung fu and backflips, debuted on the Shanghai stock market last week with shares rising over 460%. Oregon State University professor Alan Fern, who helped set a 2022 robot 100m record of 24.73 seconds, called the four-year leap to 9.39 seconds an "enormous achievement" but noted it reflects hardware and control refinements rather than breakthroughs. He found the tennis-playing robot more impressive due to its need to adapt to unpredictability. Robots at the games still fell, sparked fires, and crashed, with one earning the nickname "shy robot" for its unusual running posture.