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A new frontier in tech competition? The robot race

Shannon Redstall
August 23, 2026

A Chinese humanoid robot beat human athlete Usain Bolt's record at the World Humanoid Robot Games. Last year, the same company's robot was a lot slower. What is at stake in this tech race?

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The headline-grabbing result was due to a humanoid robot running 100 metres in 9.39 seconds, faster than human athlete's Usain Bolt's world record.

But the bigger story may be China's push to make humanoid robotics a strategic industry. As Beijing, Washington and European capitals weigh the economic and security implications of advanced robotics, we ask technology analyst and former White House adviser Lindsay Gorman, who is leading, who is falling behind, and what is at stake?