Unitree claims new Humanoid Robot outruns Usain Bolt

Increasingly, companies are building humanoid robots that perform impressive athletic feats to mark the field’s progress. Now, Chinese robotics company Unitree says its new "Superman" robot can run 12.66 metres per second, faster than Usain Bolt's top recorded speed.

Getting a humanoid robot to run at all requires split-second control and has been a significant engineering challenge occupying roboticists for decades. That’s why sprinting, as well as jumping, have become popular targets for robotics companies keen to demonstrate their technology’s prowess.

Unitree's latest demonstration pushes the boundaries by not only outrunning the fastest human ever, but also jumping around 6 feet 7 inches into the air from a standing start, a full foot more than the human record.

“This new machine has only been in development for a little over three months, with significant room for further improvement in the coming months,” Unitree said in an X post that accompanied a video of the accomplishments.

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The records have not been externally verified, and the sprinting speed was a peak reading taken over a shorter stretch rather than a full 100 metres like Bolt’s record. The robot's legs are also only 2 feet 9 inches long, according to Unitree, which results in an ungainly, arm-waving gait while running.

The effort is nonetheless impressive and adds to Unitree’s growing reputation as the company leading the pack of humanoid robot developers. And the timing of the announcement was no accident, coming just days before Unitree's stock market debut and shortly before the World Humanoid Robot Games, which opened on August 22.

The company’s Shanghai IPO was a blockbuster, recording an initial 629 percent gain on the company’s first day of trading. It was briefly valued at around $66 billion before closing at a more modest $51 billion. However, some analysts have cautioned the excitement around the company’s technology may be getting ahead of market realities.

“The IPO is expensive, and the investment risk is already quite high,” Wang Zhuo, partner of Shanghai Zhuozhu Investment Management, told Reuters. “Unitree generates much of its sales from research and demonstrations, but wider application is still far away.”

But the company holds a dominant grip on the emerging humanoid market that may justify some of the hype. Chinese firms control roughly 90 percent of the global humanoid robot market, with Unitree alone shipping 5,500 of the 13,000 to 18,000 humanoids sold worldwide in 2025, the most of any manufacturer. In contrast, US humanoid champions Figure AI, Agility Robotics, and Tesla each shipped around 150 units.

China’s success is down to “a combination of policy support, public investment, mature supply chain, and advancements made in AI software and hardware,” Lian Jye Su, a tech analyst at consultancy firm Omdia said.

This is leading to an increasingly combative response from the US. On July 29 the Federal Communications Commission banned new imports of foreign-made humanoid and quadruped robots. The move was framed as a matter of national security, though it has also been seen as an attempt to give domestic developers a leg up.

Beijing predictably objected, with foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning telling a press conference that “protectionism does not make the US more competitive, and it will only hurt the interests of US companies and consumers.”

Given the rapid progress made by companies like Unitree, it seems likely it’s going to take more than trade barriers for the US to catch up. In the meantime, we might see more human athletic records fall to China’s leading humanoid developers.

First published on Fanatical Futurist on 17 August 2026.

311 Intelligence

What this means

Analysis by the 311 Strategic Intelligence Unit

The big shift is that humanoid robots have become a contest between nations, not just companies. Chinese firms control roughly 90 percent of the global humanoid robot market, Unitree shipped 5,500 humanoids in 2025, and its Shanghai IPO briefly valued it at around $66 billion. Our Starburst data puts this in context: we rate Robotics, with factory robot numbers hitting five million as AI-powered humanoids attract record investment, a Prepare trend, and we track the Innovation Cold War, the US and China using export bans, subsidies and blacklists to win key technologies, as an Act now trend.

What it means by sector.

• Manufacturing and logistics: sprint and jump records show progress in control and balance, but an analyst quoted in the article says Unitree makes much of its sales from research and demonstrations, and wider application is still far away. We expect Factory Humanoid Robots to reach wide use by 2035.
• Investors: a 629 percent first-day gain shows the appetite for humanoid stocks. Analysts caution the excitement may be running ahead of market realities.
• Governments and trade: the US Federal Communications Commission banned new imports of foreign-made humanoid and quadruped robots on national security grounds. We track Technological Decoupling, the US and China separating their technology stacks, as a Prepare trend.

What to do now.

• Judge humanoid robots on verified, real-world tasks in settings like yours, not on demonstration records.
• Check whether import rules in your markets now restrict the robots you plan to buy, and map supplier risk by country.
• Run small pilots with robots from more than one supplier so you can switch if trade rules change.

The Starburst technologies behind this story

From the 311 Technology Starburst (first product, expected wide use and readiness):

Technology	Category	First product	Wide use	Action	TRL
Physical AI	Intelligence	2025	2037	Watch	7
General Purpose Robots	Robotics	2026	2039	Watch	6
Reinforcement Learning	Intelligence	2016	2027	Act now	9
Vision-Language-Action Robot Models	Intelligence	2025	2031	Explore	6

And the trends they feed, from the 311 Trends Starburst:

Trend	Wide use	Action
Robotics	2030	Prepare
Factory Humanoid Robots	2035	Explore
Innovation Cold War	2023	Act now
Technological Decoupling	2028	Prepare

How this moves the trend

Running robots have come a long way in a few years. In 2018 Boston Dynamics' Atlas went for a run in the park. In 2025, 21 Chinese robots ran a half marathon, and in April 2026 a Chinese android ran one faster than any human ever. Unitree's sprint claim moves the contest from endurance to raw speed, with China still in front.

Go deeper with 311

• The 311 Starburst Centre: every technology and trend above, with timelines and readiness.
• 311 Vantage: ask what humanoid robots mean for your organisation and get a plain English executive brief.
• The Exponential Technology Codex and the Annual Trends Codex: the technologies and trends reshaping every industry.
• Book a briefing or keynote on the future of robotics and work for your board or leadership team.