Unitree Robotics unveiled a humanoid robot prototype called "Superman" on August 17, claiming it can reach a top speed of 12.66 meters per second (45.6 km/h) and perform a 2-meter standing vertical jump — figures the company says surpass all corresponding human world records2,7,11. No independent testing has confirmed those performance claims3,4.
The robot has legs measuring 0.85 meters in length and was developed from scratch in just over three months, according to the company9. Unitree said there remains significant room for improvement in the coming months. For context, Usain Bolt's peak recorded instantaneous speed was 12.42 m/s during his 2009 world-record 100-meter sprint, according to Gagadget. Unitree's own H1 humanoid robot had set a running speed record of 10.1 meters per second on a track in April.
The unveiling comes days after Unitree's oversubscribed IPO on Shanghai's STAR Market. The company launched its IPO subscription on August 10 at 150.8 yuan per share, raising approximately $900 million at a valuation of around $9 billion14. The retail portion was oversubscribed by more than 5,500 times, according to Startup Fortune.
Alongside Superman, Unitree introduced the As2W, a wheeled-leg quadruped robot designed for heavy loads and long-duration tasks. The 25-kilogram machine can carry up to 16 kilograms continuously, travel more than 30 kilometers unloaded, and reach speeds of 6 meters per second. It carries an IP54 protection rating, and demonstrations showed it descending from platforms and moving through shallow water. Its maximum payload capacity is 180 kilograms.
The Superman launch expands Unitree's humanoid robot portfolio to six products spanning the H, G, and R series, plus the GD01 manned transformable mech. The company is pursuing dual tracks: aggressive price reduction for mass adoption — with the G1 base model priced at approximately 85,000 yuan (roughly $12,614) and the R1-Air starting at 29,900 yuan (roughly $4,437) — alongside high-performance capability demonstrations like Superman. On May 12, Unitree unveiled the GD01, its first mass-produced manned transforming mecha, with a starting price of 3.9 million yuan (about $540,000), the most expensive publicly priced product the company has released.
Unitree Robotics said on August 12 that it had produced about 18,000 humanoid robots to date, counting only bionic bipedal humanoids and excluding other humanoid robots and wheeled-base models. The company reported 1.699 billion yuan in 2025 revenue and 590 million yuan in adjusted net profit.
Startup Fortune noted that Boston Dynamics' Atlas tops out at around 2.5 m/s, placing Superman's claimed speed in a different category entirely. However, Unitree has not announced a commercial name, full specifications, pricing, or a launch timeline for Superman, and existing products like the H1 and G1 have limited availability outside China.
The debut arrives ahead of Beijing's upcoming World Humanoid Robot Games, which will feature over 2,000 robots from 16 countries in events including long jump, weightlifting, tug of war, and table tennis13.
ANALYSIS The timing of the Superman reveal — within a week of Unitree's STAR Market IPO — positions the demonstration as both a technical milestone and a market-facing signal to new shareholders about the company's R&D velocity. The gap between the H1's 10.1 m/s in April and Superman's claimed 12.66 m/s in August, if validated, would represent a 25 percent speed increase in roughly four months. Until independent verification arrives, the figures remain company-stated benchmarks rather than confirmed records.