Osaka: World’s first four-day robot marathon race began on Thursday in Osaka in the western Japanese city.
The five battery-charged runners, each between 30cm and 44cm in height, will compete on arguably the least picturesque marathon course in the world.
Five knee-high androids have crossed the starting line in the world’s first marathon for two-legged robots. The winner is expected to complete the course on Sunday.
Organisers of the Robo Mara Full say the race will test the robots’ durability and manoeuvrability to the limit as they attempt to complete 422 laps of the 100-metre track to make up the 26.2-mile marathon distance.
The event is being organised by Vstone, a Japanese robot maker, and funded by the municipal government of Osaka, a city that once depended on heavy industry but is now trying to position itself as a centre of robot innovation.
Japan has an impressive record of marrying cutting-edge robot technology and athletic achievement. It hosted the first robot football World Cup in Nagoya in 1997, and again in 2005, in Osaka. Last year’s tournament in Singapore drew 500 teams from 40 countries.
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