The World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing are throwing up images that are more curious than awe-inspiring. On Tuesday, a made-in-China biped ran 100 metres in 8.86 seconds, bettering its own 9.39-second mark set earlier—both faster than Usain Bolt’s world record of 9.58 seconds set in 2009. Should we now qualify the Jamaican sprinter’s feat as a ‘human record’? There was also a terrifying moment when a humanoid crashed into a barrier while its human handler stayed away from the sparks it gave off. Do we really want robots to run races, or compete at football, as it happened at the RoboCup in South Korea earlier this year? We should instead make them work on tasks that need filling-in. How about keeping elders company or cleaning sewers?
