China’s Unitree Robotics just dropped their new humanoid called “Superman,” and the thing hit a top speed of 12.66 meters per second. That’s about 28.3 mph. Usain Bolt’s peak during his legendary 9.58-second 100m world record? Roughly 12.42 m/s. So yeah, the robot edged the greatest sprinter of all time.
This absolute unit has legs only 0.85 meters long and was built in a little over three months. Unitree is out here claiming it also clears a 2-meter standing high jump, which is higher than any human has ever managed from a standstill. The future is already here, and it’s built in Hangzhou.
They filmed the speed run at Beijing’s National Speed Skating Oval (the same place hosting the Second World Humanoid Robot Games starting August 22 with over 2,000 robots competing). The clip starts clean: Superman is cooking on the blue track, arms pumping, legs churning, looking like it’s about to leave every human in the dust. It hits that curve at full tilt, looking unstoppable.
Then reality hits.
The robot has zero concept of brakes. It keeps charging straight toward the side of the arena, plows into a cluster of equipment cabinets and electrical boxes like a runaway shopping cart, and goes full demolition mode. Boxes tip over. Stuff flies. Dust and debris kick up. Fire extinguishers or whatever the hell was stacked there get scattered. A dude standing nearby just watches the chaos unfold. The whole thing ends in a crumpled metal heap against the wall.
Unitree hasn’t said much about the wipeout. They’re busy hyping the upcoming robot Olympics while this thing is still figuring out the whole “slowing down” part of running. Peak speed is cool and all, but if you can’t stop, you’re just an expensive way to rearrange furniture.
The robots are coming for our records. They’re just not ready for the cool-down lap yet.
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