Saturday, February 26, 2011

World's first robot marathon gets off to a slow start, will likely stay that way

[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2011/02/robomarafullvstone-2011.jpg[/img]
It might take them a good 92 hours longer than the fastest human runners, but a group of five pint-sized humanoids have officially embarked on the world's first full-length robot marathon. The Robo Mara Full, put on by Japanese robotics company Vstone, kicked off today in Osaka, Japan, and will see the mechanized competitors through a 42 kilometer (26 mile) race, estimated to last at least four days. During the marathon, entrants will circle a 100-meter indoor track a total of 422 times with little help from their human coaches -- contact is only permitted during battery and servo replacement. Vstone's Robovie-PC led the pack at the outset, but with three days left to go, it's still any robot's game. You can check out a live feed of all the, uh, slow and furious action at the coverage link below, and get a full overview of the race, complete with embarrassing translation, by following the source link.

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