On August 17, 2026, Chinese robotics giant Unitree released a video of its Superman model displaying its athletic abilities. Despite its clunky-looking exterior, Unitree’s newest humanoid robot can perform a 2-meter vertical jump and land firmly on its feet, beating the record set by Christopher Spell in 2021 (1.70 meters) by quite a large margin.
However, the main attraction of Unitree’s viral video is Superman running faster than Usain Bolt, the fastest human in history, reaching speeds of up to 12.66 m/s (45.6 km/h). Bolt, who became the first person to run the 100m in under 9.5 seconds, reached a top speed of 12.27 m/s (44.17 km/h).
Superman’s goofy running style doesn’t really do the humanoid robot justice, but if the figures reported by Unitree are real – they have yet to be verified by a third party – the humanoid robot revolution we are currently experiencing just got even scarrier. Just imagine being chased by one of these things and hearing its metal feet against the asphalt as it approaches…
This isn’t the first time Unitree goes viral with an impressive showcase. A few months back, it shocked the world with a synchronized martial arts performance executed to perfection by dozens of its humanoid robots, but it also sparked controversy when some of its robots started behaving erratically and actually hitting people. That hasn’t been the case with Superman, but imagine the world’s fastest humanoid robot behaving like that.
