Oregon State University just unleashed the fastest bipedal robot in the world -- a machine that is faster than the speed of light your average mall walker ... which just clocked a 100-meter dash with the time of 24.73 seconds!!

The star robo-athlete is named Cassie ... which was invented by the OSU College of Engineering. OSU says Cassie was built with knees like an ostrich and has no cameras or censors -- so it is basically blind.

The big single-entry race went down at the school's Whyte Track and Field Center ... and while it may not outrun the average human, the accomplishment is incredible for a robot.

FWIW ... Bolt's 100-meter world record is secure at 9.58 seconds.

As it turns out, Cassie has another major feat on its resume ... after running a 5k in 53 minutes back in 2021.

"Cassie has been a platform for pioneering research in robot learning for locomotion," project leader Devin Crowley said. "Completing a 5K was about reliability and endurance, which left open the question of, how fast can Cassie run? That led the research team to shift its focus to speed."