Faster Than A Bolt: A Robot Just Beat Usain Bolt's World's Fastest Human Record
For years, Usain Bolt has been known as the fastest human on Earth. But this past month, that title got a little more complicated. A robot has beaten Usain Bolt's 100-meter time.
At the World Humanoid Robot Games, held at Beijing's National Speed Skating Oval, a robot named "Lightning Bolt" sprinted 100 meters in just 9.39 seconds. That is faster than Bolt's world-record 9.58 seconds, which he set in 2009 at the World Athletics Championships in Berlin. Another robot, made by the Chinese phone company Honor, ran the same distance in an even faster 9.32 seconds during a test event earlier in the week. The robot reached a top speed of about 14.5 meters per second.
The games are like the Olympics… but for robots. More than 2,000 humanoid robots took part this year, competing in over 1,000 events. These events included sprinting, soccer, table tennis, boxing, and even dancing.
Not everything about the robots sprinting was smooth. Unlike Bolt, who could slow down and jog a victory lap after setting a world record, the sprinting robots couldn't stop on their own. At the end of the race, they crashed straight into a padded wall to bring themselves to a halt before being placed on stretchers and carried off. Other robots in different events also had a rough time: some tripped, fell apart, or even caught fire during their competitions.
Spectators had mixed feelings watching robots outperform humans. One woman said she used to be nervous about artificial intelligence because she thought it might replace people. Still, she came to see the games anyway because she believes robot technology is "unstoppable." Another spectator said watching robots do things that are normal for humans was "amazing."
This event is also part of a bigger picture. China has been investing heavily in robotics and treats it as a major national goal, hoping advances in robots and artificial intelligence will boost the country's technology and economy. However, not every country is thrilled about how fast China's robots are improving. Last month, the United States Federal Communications Commission announced a ban on importing new humanoid robots made in foreign countries, specifically targeting China. The robots are bringing major national security concerns.
Even with all the excitement, most experts agree a robot breaking a human sprint record isn't quite the same as a person doing it. Robots are built and programmed to move in specific ways, while humans train their bodies and minds to get faster through years of hard work. Watching a machine outrun one of the greatest sprinters ever is a pretty wild sign of just how fast robot technology is moving.
Whether robots keep getting faster or not, one thing is clear: this won't be the last time humans and machines go head-to-head to see who is really the fastest.