Chinese team creates swift sprinting humanoid robot "Bolt"

HANGZHOU, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese team has unveiled a full-size humanoid robot capable of running at 10 meters per second, thus outsprinting most humans.

The robot called Bolt, named after Jamaican sprint legend Usain Bolt, was developed by a humanoid innovation institute at Zhejiang University in east China, in collaboration with Hangzhou-based robotics startups Mirror Me and Kaierda, both also located in Zhejiang.

This achievement marks a significant breakthrough in robot locomotion control, dynamic balance and high-performance drive systems, according to the developers.

Wang Hongtao, head of the institute and founder of Mirror Me, and the red-painted metallic android competed against each other on treadmills. A released video clip shows that while the robot took shorter strides, it was able to move at a faster cadence than Wang.

The team previously set a speed record for quadruped robots in 2025 with its Black Panther, which reached a speed of more than 10 meters per second.

Last August, Beijing hosted the inaugural World Humanoid Robot Games, where the Tien Kung humanoid robot won the 100-meter race with a time of 21.5 seconds.