The 100m world record, set by Jamaican Usain Bolt, has been broken by a humanoid robot – recording 9.39 seconds at the World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing.
The Beijing-based robot known as “Lightning Bolt” knocked 0.19 off the 9.58-second effort of sprint champion Bolt in the 2009 World Athletics Championships in Berlin.
Lightning Bolt wasn’t the only robot to impress, with Honorius’s humanoid having set a new personal best for robot-only running time of 9.32 seconds in trials prior to the event-a peak speed of 14.5 meters per second.
However, once the data had been clocked and the record broken by the machines, the celebration wasn’t as captivating as the original. Lightning Bolt collided with a blue safety barrier following the event, with the robots crashing or needing help after other attempts were made.
More than 2,000 robots will compete in the second installment of the World Humanoid Robot Games in a total of 51 events, within around 1,000 contests; which are being held over four days. These races are split in to several different disciplines such as running, table tennis, football, weightlifting and tug-of-war.
They are taking place in the speed skating oval at the 2008 Olympics.
Robots have also excelled in another category – a standing high-jump robot has completed a jump of 2.88metres, eclipsing the human world record which was set at 2.45metres by Javier Sotomayor of Cuba in 1993.
As more and more people show increased interest in the field of humanoids, with robots appearing from 16 different countries, the level of advancement within the competition is higher than ever before in China.
