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

By Christopher Trout posted Feb 25th 2011 1:36PM 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.
This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.