A humanoid robot just beat Usain Bolt's 100m record, and roboticists are unimpressed for good reason
While a Beijing humanoid robot ran 100m in 9.39 seconds, beating Usain Bolt's record, roboticists note that sprinting on a known course is far easier for machines than performing practical tasks like folding laundry.
The Atomic take
The gap between raw speed on a fixed track and genuine dexterity is exactly what separates lab demos from useful machines, and this record exposes how much easier controlled locomotion is than the unpredictable manipulation real work demands. Sprinting a known course rewards optimized motors and clear paths, while folding laundry requires perception, adaptation, and soft-object handling that still stump the field. Watch whether the same Beijing team can show progress on unstructured tasks, since that is the benchmark that will actually matter for deployment.
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