A Chinese humanoid robot has run 100 metres in 9.39 seconds in a preliminary heat at the World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing, surpassing the men’s world record time held by Jamaican sprinting great Usain Bolt.

Tiangong Ultra, developed by the Beijing Humanoid Robot Innovation Center, won its heat at the opening of the games’ second edition. The robot overtook ⁠smartphone maker Honor’s Lightning near the finish after falling behind early in the race. Lightning finished in 9.47 seconds, also faster than the 9.58-second record Bolt set at the 2009 World Athletics Championships in Berlin.

The results marked a remarkable improvement from last year’s inaugural games, when Tiangong Ultra won the 100 metres in 21.50 seconds. Tiangong also won the world’s first humanoid robot half-marathon, held in Beijing last year.

The 100 metres is among 51 events at the games, which include football, dancing and contests to complete industrial tasks.

China is promoting humanoid robots as a strategic emerging industry, with policymakers and companies betting that advances in AI and hardware will accelerate their use in manufacturing, logistics and consumer applications.

Investor enthusiasm for the sector was underscored recently when shares in Unitree, China’s best-known humanoid robot maker, jumped more than five fold in its Shanghai trading debut, giving the company a market value of about $50 billion.

This year’s ⁠games have drawn 2,056 robots from 666 teams across 16 countries and six continents, up from 280 teams at the inaugural event.

Clive Myrie presents BBC News at Ten reporting by Laura Bicker in Beijing.

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