Usain Bolt Could Not Outrun New Robot, Unitree Says

China's latest humanoid robot just edged out the fastest human on record—at least on paper. Robotics firm Unitree has unveiled Superman, a bipedal bot that, in a demo video, clocks a top speed of about 28.3mph and pulls off a standing jump of two meters. That speed slightly tops the 27.8mph Usain Bolt hit during his landmark 2009 sprint. Superman remains a prototype that Unitree says it will keep refining, Gizmodo reports.

The timing of the reveal isn't subtle. Unitree began trading Wednesday on Shanghai's STAR Market after raising about $904 million, becoming mainland China's first listed general-purpose robotics company. The stock took off in its debut, per the Wall Street Journal, climbing 460% for a market value of $51 billion. Beijing is pouring money into AI and robotics as US regulators move to restrict imports of advanced Chinese robots over security concerns.