Record Breaking Robot Walks 83 Miles in 54 Hours?

The robot dubbed "Xinghe No. 1" was developed by a team led by Li Qindu, a professor at the College of Automation under the Chongqing University of Post and Telecommunications. The team started developing the robot in November 2014 and the first prototype was produced in January this year.

"Xinghe No.1" beat the record for the longest distance covered by a four-legged robot previously held by "Ranger", a quadruped robot developed by a team at Cornell University in the US.

To create the record the Chinese robot circled an indoor track from October 24 to 27, taking 340,000 steps before requiring a stop to recharge. It covered a distance of 134.03 km (83 miles) in over 54 hours and used 0.8 kWh of power, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.


The distance covered by the Chinese robot was more than twice as that of the former record holder, the US-made “Ranger “and the speed was 1.18 times faster according to Xinhua. The US-made robot had walked 65 km in 30 hours consuming 0.5 kWh.

According to Li the objective of the research was not just to increase the length that the robot can trek, but also, to study the electrical efficiency, boost the reliability and enable the robot to perform remote controlled missions that would be considered dangerous for humans.

Source: Guinness Book of Records