Share to ClassroomRobot Beats Usain Bolt's 100m Record
A humanoid robot has run 100 metres in 9.39 seconds at the World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing. This is faster than the human world record of 9.58 seconds. The sprinter Usain Bolt set that record in 2009. A Beijing research centre built the robot. It raced two other machines on the first day. But the win did not last. After the finish line, the two fastest robots could not slow down. They hit a safety mattress and fell. Workers carried them away on stretchers, like injured athletes.
The games are taking place for the second time and end on 26 August. In total, 2,056 robots from 666 teams are competing. Most teams are Chinese, but robots come from 16 countries. There are 50 events. Thirty copy human sports, such as boxing, football and gymnastics. The other 20 are work tasks, such as laying bricks and folding laundry. Robots that act completely on their own get full points. Robots that need human help get only half.
The work tasks show where robots may first be used in real jobs. But the games also showed the limits. Photographs show one robot catching fire after a race. Another robot fell during the 400 metres.
