Watch: The Chinese robot that jumps 2 meters high and runs at 45 km/h

Chinese company Unitree has unveiled a new robot capable of jumping 2 meters high and reaching speeds of 45 km/h, days before its listing on the Shanghai Stock Exchange. The company raised 6.1 billion yuan in its initial public offering, with demand exceeding supply by 8,000 times. Meanwhile, it faces US import restrictions and security risks.

Chinese company Unitree unveiled a new high-speed robot today (Monday), which it called "Superman," just days before it is expected to become the first multi-purpose robotics company to list its shares on a Chinese stock exchange. The company, the world's largest humanoid robot manufacturer by sales, will begin trading in Shanghai on Wednesday, after raising 6.1 billion yuan ($905 million) in an initial public offering last week. The new robot, developed in just over three months, performed a standing jump to a height of 2 meters and reached a top speed of 12.66 meters per second (about 45 km/h). Its development is not yet complete, and its performance can be improved in the coming months. The stock market debut coincides with the opening of the World Robot Conference in Beijing, increasing investor attention. Demand from retail investors was more than 8,000 times the number of shares offered – a record for the STAR market in Shanghai. Meanwhile, Unitree faces growing pressure from the US: at the end of July, the Trump administration imposed restrictions on imports of new models of advanced robots from China, and the company was added to the Pentagon's list of companies it defines as supported by the Chinese military. The company had produced about 18,000 bipedal robots by July, and is backed by Tencent, Alibaba, and DeepSeek. Ahead of the start of trading, derivatives trading points to a potentially strong debut.