Robot beats Bolt's record, but the final surprised everyone (VIDEO)

The Chinese humanoid robot Tiangong Ultra ran 100 meters in 9.39 seconds, faster than Usain Bolt's record, but stumbled at the finish line, while its competitor fell and was evacuated on a stretcher.

The Chinese humanoid robot Tiangong Ultra, developed by the Beijing Innovation Center for Humanoid Robots, ran 100 meters in 9.39 seconds in a preliminary heat at the second "Robot Olympics" in Beijing. This time is faster than the human world record set by Usain Bolt (9.58 seconds) in 2009. However, the finish was dramatic: Tiangong stumbled and veered to the edge of the track, while its competitor, the robot Lightning from Honor, fell and was evacuated on a stretcher. Lightning recorded a time of 9.47 seconds. Despite the fall, Tiangong Ultra's result marks significant progress compared to last year's winning time of 21.50 seconds. Earlier on Saturday, Chinese media reported that Lightning had clocked 9.32 seconds in training. The 100-meter dash is one of 51 events in which 2,056 robots from 666 teams from 16 countries are competing. The games are being held at the National Speed Skating Palace in Beijing until Wednesday. In China, humanoid robots are considered a strategic industry, and interest in them is confirmed by the more than fivefold increase in shares of Unitree on the first day of trading.