Humanoid robots beat human records in the 100m, half-marathon, and high jump | Hacker News Reader

Humanoid robots beat human records in the 100m, half-marathon, and high jump

reuters.com

11 pointstazlor8 comments

And also the 400m and 1500m.

In the 100-meter sprint, a humanoid robot achieved a result of 9.39 seconds, beating the human record of 9.58 seconds set by Jamaica's Bolt in 2009.

In a standing high jump [note: no running start or fosbury flop], a humanoid robot was able to reach 2.88 meters, well above the 0.95-meter best result by a humanoid in last year's first edition of the games. It surpassed the human high jump record of 2.45 meters set by Cuba's Javier Sotomayor in 1993.

Both robots were from Beijing-based X-Humanoid.

Before the opening, a humanoid robot from Chinese smartphone company Honor completed a 100-meter sprint in a record of 9.32 seconds during a trial of the games, the company said, at a peak speed of 14.5 meters per second.

Video of 400m and 1500m: https://v.redd.it/711tzveka5lh1

Video of high jump: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoqG2wlzRAM

I came to these comments for a link to the high jump video. It did not disappoint.

Now do the pole vault!

I don't understand why we're supposed to be impressed by these achievements. We've made mechanical things that can outdo humans for decades, putting it into the form factor of humanoid does nothing for it.

It’s a scare tactic / propaganda thing. China is saying to the world, Comply or robot armies are coming for you. It designed to invoke fear and awe.

The form factor of a humanoid is enormously difficult to achieve human level or better performance. This is progress. Just the energy storage and compact high torque motors are very challenging, and that’s before the control problem.

Humans and other animals are incredibly efficient machines.

Why care about this form factor? Because the human-built world is built for it. Workplaces, hospitals, homes, public infrastructure all accommodate this form factor.

What a buffoonery of a comparision.

I mean, a motor car can beat me in the hundred meters too. Or an e-bike. Or a drone. What’s the big deal here?

This is my reaction. Why does the machine being human-shaped make a difference?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com