Marathon on a single charge: walking robot RAIBO2 crosses the line in 4:19 hours
A four-legged robot from South Korea has completed a full marathon on a single battery charge – using less energy over the distance than a human runner.
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Video: YouTube · NPG Press · youtube.com
The four-legged walking robot RAIBO2 completed the 22nd Sangju Marathon in South Korea in 4 hours, 19 minutes and 52 seconds – on just one battery charge. The team led by Jemin Hwangbo of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) describes the robot in the journal Nature. Its average speed was 2.64 metres per second, on a course with 286 metres of elevation change and slippery sections.
Over the whole course, RAIBO2 used about 1,280 watt-hours. The researchers estimate it could have run about 25 kilometres more. Its average cost of transport – a measure of the energy needed to cover a distance relative to weight – was 0.25. According to the study, this makes it the first quadruped robot to stay below the human value of 0.37.
Previous walking robots of this type usually manage only about 20 kilometres; RAIBO2 covers more than three times that per charge. Such machines could one day help with rescue missions in the mountains or in disaster areas, where wheels and tracks reach their limits.