A humanoid robot developed by Chinese smartphone maker Honor ran 100 metres in 9.32 seconds, China's state broadcaster reported on Saturday, outstripping the human world record held by Jamaican sprinting legend Usain Bolt.

The robot, dubbed 'Lightning', reached a peak speed of 14.5 metres per second during a preparatory test for the second World Humanoid Robot Games, which opened in Beijing on Saturday. The performance surpassed the 9.58-second men's 100-metre world record set by Bolt at the World Athletics Championships in Berlin in 2009.

China has been promoting humanoid robotics as a strategic emerging industry, with policymakers and tech firms betting that advances in artificial intelligence and hardware will accelerate deployment across manufacturing, logistics, and consumer applications.

In April, Lightning also won the 21-kilometre Beijing half-marathon in 50 minutes and 26 seconds, eclipsing the elite men's human world-record pace. The robot stood 169 centimetres tall with a leg length of 95 centimetres during that race, and researchers have since lengthened its legs by 10 centimetres ahead of the World Humanoid Robot Games, according to China Central Television (CCTV).