Unitree says a new humanoid robot named Superman can sprint at 12.66 meters per second – faster than the roughly 12.4 m/s peak Usain Bolt hit during his 2009 world-record 100 meters – and jump two meters vertically.
The company claims the robot, developed in just three months, would cover 100 meters in 7.90 seconds if it maintained top speed, beating Bolt’s 9.58. It also says Superman beats the human record for a standing high jump.
The claims carry no independent verification. Unitree has not shared a testing protocol – payload, surface conditions, repeatability – and TechNode cautions the figures say nothing about commercial production. Business Insider also could not confirm the record.
The reveal lands days before Unitree’s Shanghai listing on the STAR Market, expected Wednesday at a valuation around $9B, with retail demand reportedly more than 5,000 times oversubscribed. The company shipped nearly 6,000 humanoids in the first half of 2026, per Smart Analytics Global.
Flashy demos have a mixed record in humanoids, which still struggle with real-world reliability. But the sprint is more evidence of how fast China’s robotics industry is moving, and Unitree’s range now runs from the $13,500 G1 dancer to the $650,000 GD01 mecha.
