nitree showed the H1, which has a combined thigh and calf length of 80 centimeters and weighs about 62 kilograms, achieving the speed on an athletics track, in a video released on Apr. 11.

"With the physique of an ordinary person, running at a world champion's speed," Unitree said.

The performance slightly surpasses the previous humanoid robot record of 10 meters per second set by China’s Mirror Me in February.

It also approaches the average speed of Bolt’s 100-meter world record of 9.58 seconds in 2009, equivalent to about 10.44 meters per second, according to Global Times.

The milestone comes as Unitree CEO Wang Xingxing predicted humanoid robots could soon outpace humans in sprinting.

"In a few months, by around mid-year, humanoid robots globally, especially in China, may run faster than humans," China Daily quoted Wang as saying at the Yabuli China Entrepreneurs Forum on March 17. "Their 100-meter sprint times could drop below 10 seconds."

Hangzhou-based Unitree Robotics was recently ranked the world’s second-largest humanoid robotics firm by shipments and installations, according to reports cited by the South China Morning Post.

Research firm Omdia estimated Unitree shipped about 4,200 humanoid robots, accounting for 32% of the global market, while Counterpoint Research reported the company represented 26.4% of worldwide installations, or roughly 4,224 units.