Robo-runners complete marathon in photo finish
Team Vstone's Hobby bot Robovie-PC is the fastest robot marathon runner in the land, completing the race in 54 hours, 57 minutes, and 50 seconds.
Race winner Robovie PC wears his heart on his sleeve, so to speak.
(Credit: Vstone)The word's first bipedal robot marathon wrapped up in Osaka, Japan, over the weekend with a 15-inch droid taking home the prize after a near photo finish.
Dramatic finish: Robovie-PC breaks the tape.
(Credit: Vstone)Team Vstone's Robovie-PC won the Robomarafull race in 54 hours, 57 minutes, and 50 seconds, with Robot Center Team's Robovie-PC Lite nipping at his heels and crossing the finish line just a second behind.
The other three robo-runners, including two from Osaka Institute of Technology, had dropped out of the 26.2-mile endurance contest, which was organized by robot maker Vstone and the Osaka government.
Winner Robovie-PC is a high-end kit robot with 20 moving joints and weighing about 5 pounds. It ran the race autonomously by following colored tape on the track.
Powered by a 1.6GHz Intel Atom Z530 microprocessor, it has a head camera and urethane sponge foam on its exterior to protect it from falls.
Vstone sells the Robovie-PC kit starting at about $4,890.
Check out some highlights from the marathon in the vid below.
