Unitree Says Its New “Superman” Humanoid Robot Can Outrun Usain Bolt Ahead of IPO

Unitree introduced a new humanoid robot called “Superman” and said it can outrun and out-jump top human athletes. The Chinese robotics firm said the robot has been in development for three months and can reach a top speed of 12.66 meters per second. That claim places it above the roughly 12.4 m/s top speed Usain Bolt reached during his 2009 world-record 100-meter run.

Unitree said Superman could cover 100 meters in 7.90 seconds if it maintained its top speed throughout. The company also said the robot can jump two meters vertically, which Business Insider reported would beat the human world record for a standing high jump. The key takeaway for readers: these are company-stated benchmarks, so real-world performance, endurance, and commercial usefulness remain the details to watch.

The unveiling comes just before Unitree’s expected Shanghai listing, with Business Insider reporting a $9 billion valuation. Filings cited in the report suggest the IPO’s retail-investor allocation is more than 5,000 times oversubscribed. For investors and robotics watchers, the robot is arriving as a showcase product at a high-attention moment for China’s humanoid robotics industry.

Business Insider reported that Unitree shipped nearly 6,000 humanoid robots in the first half of 2026, according to Smart Analytics Global. The company sells machines across a wide price range, including the $13,500 G1 humanoid and the $650,000 GD01 mecha. The report also notes that Tesla’s Optimus is expected to enter production by the end of 2026, while a recent FCC ban on some new foreign-made advanced robots could complicate US access to products like Unitree’s Superman.