New records being set as China holds robot olympics

BEIJING (NBC, KYMA) - Chinese robot Tiangong broke its own record in a 400-meter dash, clocking in at 38.15 seconds at the World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing.

The new record comes one day after Tiangong broke the 400m human record on Saturday when it finished at 39.7 seconds, beating South African Wayde Van Niekerk's world record of 43.03 seconds.

Also Saturday, a humanoid robot clocked 9.39 seconds to beat the men's 100m world record of 9.58 seconds. The men's 100m world record is 9.58 seconds, set by Usain Bolt in Berlin in 2009.

More than 2,000 humanoid robots run, play table tennis and soccer, and are setting records at the games. Dubbed "Robot Olympics," highlighting China's rapid advances in robotics amid a tech race with the United States.

Featuring 51 events with a total of 1,301 competitions, the games attracted 666 teams from around the world, with the number of teams up 138 percent from the inaugural edition last year.

In addition to athletics and football events, the games also introduced new events including weightlifting, tug-of-war and table tennis, putting the robots' physical structures and core components to the test.

Running for five days, the games also expanded scenario based competitions designed to simulate real-world applications.

Covering sectors such as logistics, hospitality and household services to help robots better integrate into people's daily lives.

China has promoted 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.