Nothing can stop these little guys. Panasonic’s Evolta battery-powered robots were already pretty impressive, but now they’re going for a hat trick of endurance-testing awesomeness by taking on Hawaii’s Ironman Triathlon later this Fall.
The triathlon entails surviving three courses: one for swimming; one for biking; and one for running. Above-normal humans are expected to run the 138.6-mile course in a single day. These robots will get a week, with breaks only to recharge their batteries.
Their next trial? Take down a family of bears with their bare plastic hands. That’s what I want to see, anyway. [Engadget]
Geoff
Sunday, September 18, 2011 at 1:52 PMSo they’re just mini humanoid looking motors and 3 batteries, mounted in holders/stabilisers/floats? And how long does it take to charge them? An hour? Why not hot-swap them? You can float a long way off course in an hour. How do they steer? Bet they’re not self-controlled either. Just give them a nudge from time to time I bet.