Usain Bolt's legendary 9.58-second 100-meter record has officially been smashed - not by a human, but by a fleet of Chinese robots at the World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing. Tiangong Ultra, built by the Beijing Humanoid Robot Innovation Center, sprinted the distance in 9.39 seconds during a preliminary heat on Saturday, with Honor's Lightning close behind at 9.47 seconds.

The event, best described as a robot Olympics for bipedal bots, showcases the latest in walking-and-running technology. Since its launch in 2025, 2,056 robots from 16 countries have been competing in categories including sprinting, jumping, football, boxing, and more. Tiangong Ultra also crushed the 400-meter race in 38.16 seconds, beating Wayde van Niekerk's 2016 world record of 43.03 seconds.

But here's the catch: these robotic athletes don't get a victory lap. Videos show them crashing into cushioned walls at impressive speeds, where they - or what's left of them - are collected on stretchers and carried away. Watching them run is both amusing and slightly unsettling, given their bizarre, jerky movements as they dash to glory.