The thing about avoiding Robot Overlords™ taking over is that you have to build them as slightly less capable than the average human. The Mirror Me Bolt humanoid robot’s creators didn’t get that memo. The ‘bot, which remains confined to the lab (for now), will blast past any human who isn’t a dedicated — possibly professional — runner.
The Chinese company behind the robot, Mirror Me, took to X to show off its new creation, putting it on a treadmill in a match between the company’s CEO and the unstoppable humanoid. It’s called Bolt for a reason — it’s very quick. 35km/h quick.
Bolt from the blue
Official Launch | Mirror Me Technology Humanoid Robot Bolt
Founder Enters the Race in Person
No CGI Fully Real Footage
10 m/s — The World’s Fastest Humanoid Robot pic.twitter.com/yurRxXI9Fb— MirrorMe tech (@MirrorMeteni7w) February 2, 2026
The robot appears to be named for Olympic sprinter Usain Bolt, though it’s not quite at his level. Bolt (the human) set a top speed for sprinting of a little over 44km/h at the 2009 Olympics. His robotic counterpart has about 9km/h to go to attain that speed. But the mechanical man will outpace almost every single average human being.
Its creation isn’t surprising. Mirror Me is also responsible for the fastest robot quadruped on record, the Black Panther II, which hurtles around at a stunning 48km/h. The way this was achieved is also genuinely terrifying, with a sort of reverse shock absorber facilitating the blistering pace achieved by the robot dog. If a robotic canine that moves at thirteen metres per second doesn’t make you nervous, perhaps Bolt’s humanoid gait and a 10m/s top speed will.
Mirror Me appears on track to give Unitree, another Chinese robotics outfit churning out scary tech, a run for its money. Black Panther II (the robot, not the movie) isn’t as balls-out terrifying as Unitree’s A2 Stellar Hunter (which was renamed to the Stellar Explorer after someone in marketing looked at the promo video), and Mirror Me’s quick-footed humanoid doesn’t have the dexterity and grace of Unitree’s H2, but we’d still avoid encountering any of these things in an isolated setting.
You know. Just in case. It’s not like we can outrun them anymore.
