Unitree H1 hits 10 m/s sprint

Humanoid robots run by balancing on two feet while motors at the hips, knees, and ankles catch each fall before it becomes a crash. Unitree said on April 13 that its H1 humanoid reached a peak sprint speed of 10 meters per second in a recent test. (cgtn.com) That speed is about 22.4 miles per hour, and Unitree described it as a new record for humanoid robots. The company released video of the run over the weekend through Chinese state media and social platforms. (cgtn.com) The H1 is Unitree’s first full-size humanoid, standing about 180 centimeters tall and weighing about 47 kilograms. On its product page, Unitree lists the H1’s current moving speed at 3.3 meters per second and its “potential mobility” at more than 5 meters per second. (unitree.com) Running on two legs is harder than rolling on wheels because the machine is briefly falling with every step. Unitree says the H1 uses high-torque joints, including knee torque of about 360 newton-meters, plus three-dimensional lidar and a depth camera for sensing. (unitree.com) The timing matters because humanoid robot makers have shifted from slow walking demos to public tests of speed, balance, and recovery. Beijing’s 2026 Humanoid Robot Half-Marathon is scheduled for April 19, with robots and humans set to run on the same day in E-Town. (english.beijing.gov.cn) Beijing officials said a full-scale test of that race route ran from the evening of April 11 into the early hours of April 12. CGTN reported the test as organizers prepared for the official half-marathon six days later. (cgtn.com) Unitree founder Wang Xingxing had already tied the sprint claim to a bigger target. CGTN said Wang previously predicted humanoid robots would break the 10-second barrier in the 100 meters by mid-2026. (cgtn.com) For comparison, Usain Bolt’s men’s 100-meter world record is 9.58 seconds, set in Berlin on August 16, 2009. A peak speed in a short robot sprint is not the same as sustaining world-record pace over a full 100 meters. (worldathletics.org) Unitree introduced the H1 in 2023 as its first full-size general-purpose humanoid robot. The company has kept updating the platform, including an H1-2 variant listed on its official specifications page. (unitree.com) The new footage does not by itself settle how fast humanoids can race over standard track distances. It does show that the benchmark has moved from “can it run” to “how long can it hold the pace.” (cgtn.com)