The race was over in less than nine seconds.
On August 25, a Chinese humanoid robot called Tiangong Ultra completed the 100-metre sprint in 8.86 seconds at the World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing, beating the 9.58-second human world record set by Usain Bolt in 2009.
The robot did not merely win a race against other machines but it crossed a symbolic line in the development of humanoid robotics.
It crashed into a padded barrier, a contradiction that may be the most important thing to understand about the future of humanoid robots.
They are becoming remarkably capable but they are not yet ready to replace humans.
