Robot Olympics ends with humanoid's 8.64-second 100m, nearly a second faster than Bolt

NEW: A humanoid robot runs the 100m in 8.64 seconds at the Robot Olympics, nearly a second faster than Usain Bolt's world record.

A robot just ran the 100 metres in 8.64 seconds. That's nearly a full second quicker than Usain Bolt's world record, and Bolt's 9.58 has stood untouched by humans since 2009.

This happened at the Robot Olympics, and look at this, humanoid machines lined up on a blue track, sprinting like it's the real thing. No lungs, no lactic acid, no nerves on the start line. Just motors and code doing what took our species a century of training science to almost do.

And it wasn't just sprinting. They boxed too, you can see them here squaring up, which is either impressive or the opening scene of a film we've all watched.

Here's what stays with me. The fastest human who ever lived held that record for seventeen years. A robot beat it at what is essentially version one. Whatever these machines are slow at today, don't bet on them staying slow for long.

This is Sara White, reporting for HIT.