As natural as walking is to us tail-less bipedal mammals, the fact of the matter is that it took many evolutionary adaptations to make this act of controlled falling forward work (somewhat) reliably. It’s therefore little wonder that replicating bipedal walking (and running) in robotics is taking a while. Recently a Chinese humanoid robot managed to bump up the maximum running speed to 3.6 m/s (12.96 km/h), during a match between two of Robot Era’s STAR1 humanoid robots in the Gobi desert.
For comparison, the footspeed of humans during a marathon is around 20 km/h and significantly higher with a sprint. These humanoid robots did a 34 minute run, with an interesting difference being that one was equipped with running shoes, which helped it reach these faster speeds. Clearly the same reasons which has led humans to start adopting footwear since humankind’s hunter-gatherer days – including increased grip and traction – also apply to humanoid robots.
That said, it looks like the era when humans can no longer outrun humanoid robots is still a long time off.
“For comparison, the footspeed of humans during a marathon is around 20 km/h”
For elite runners, yes. The average speed for male runners at the NYC marathon is about 9 km/h.
humans are better at endurance running than sprinting. from when our hunter gatherer ancestors literally ran prey to exhaustion.
When they eventually get better battery/power source, and can out run and climb a tree, humans who are running from them won’t stand an chance. However, that’s a long way off. Right now they can barely leave the lab. Of course in combination with airborne drones are scarier to me. So far, I see robots as being like star wars. Supplementary army and police.
I suspect we were mainly scavangers, and learned to walk a long way while being very thin from times when we failed to scavage.
But uhm, no I meant to say that we are the cream of the crop, and the sun revolves around our planet, and we wrestled down giant dinosaurs (special long-term surving ones, shut up).
Excuse my momentary confusion and doubt there at the beginning.
A 34 minutes run ?
I guess some electrolytic capacitor went wrong at 35 min.
Time to workout western world fat boys, before these things get faster and start chasing us.
They’ll be crossing the USA southern border soon.
Wrong !! They’ll create a borderless planet earth where they are in charge.
Very impressive. As bad as humanoid robots are for everything, there’s is something that makes them look more impressive than say a welding robot in a factory which manages to make incredibly precise movements but still looks “meh”
One feels more like an appliance than a robot, that’s for sure.
Looks like it’s gotta get to the loo in a hurry, and can hear that music from Sonic about to drown. Technically impressive tho.
It looks like we’re still very much in the era of robots walking/running like they’re desperately trying to find a toilet though.
Just wait until they learn proper running technique.
Wait until the dictators of the world decide that they need only robots…
May AI turn against them too!
:-P
i think dune got this right (ignore the lame prequel novels). it will be men with machines, and not the machines themselves, that will enslave humanity. robots are expensive, humans are cheap. so its more efficient to use them as overseers. no need to be a dictator when the machines suppress the masses for you.
But will these Chinese Communist Party (CCP) robots be allowed to displace real FEMALE PHYSICAL HUMANS in the name of Progressive Marxism?
no, they will sell them to americans. not the well built domestic versions, but the ones with all the manufacturing defects and glitches usually reserved for export. but when robot wife > human wife, these things will be used to reduce the population of opponents, especially when said glitches and defects results in a lot of “accidental” castrations and hysterectomies, aside from the obvious displacement of fertile partners.
E.g. Futurama’s Marilyn Monrobot.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuQqlhqAUuQ
Impressive that you would publish an article without imperial conversions all over. Congratulations!
Youre easily impressed. We know its .62 or 1.61 to do the conversion. I never understood the sense of superiority involved in being maths averse. In europe you speak an entirely different language every few hundred miles with no cries for everyone to speak aMetrican, but somehow knowing more than one way to cite measurements offends. We use metric in the lab, and imperial in kitchen, So what? Even our junkies can jump from grams to ounces and kilos to pounds.
as an american i really dont need this. i use both systems almost interchangably and sometimes at the same time. i did a linear actuator project recently and came to the conclusion that i was going to have to use thirtyseconds-cenetmeters because my lead screw was imperial and everything else was metric, and also to speed up fixed point math. cursed units like these are what you really should worry about.
I am not a runner myself, but apparently almost everybody in the “world top” uses the same brand and type of shoes, and I’ve heard some talk about where to draw the line. When does assistance from extra springy shoes become too much?
And I would not dare to say fast running humanoid robots would far into the future. Technology is progressing at mind boggling speed. If there is money to be made with fast running humanoids then it’s not too difficult to add some bigger springs i the calves that out do any advantage of the shoes 10 fold.
And what is your definition of “humanoid”? Does it have to look like a human when moving, or only when standing still? With or without pants (which can hide all sort of stuff) Even 20 to 30 years ago there was a robot bouncing around on a single leg (more like a pogo pin really) Make that two of those things, and hopping around like a kangaroo may be more efficient then using one leg at a time. I guess this does not work for humans because there is too much mass in the lower legs. What about those legged robots with built in wheels, which can both walk and ride?
Chinese robots with a new speed record? As soon as I did read it I knew the general mood of the comment section , I was like this is going political in no time, borders, marxism, CCP, so the entire comment section speaks more about the readers than the excellent piece of tech that is the running C3PO. Come on guys, as hackers/ makers/ hobbists we are more than this.
Ok now I will just wait…
its a legit technological marvel. but one i think wont end well because humans.
“You are not interested in politics but politics is interested in you.” This is a great progression in technology. However, like any weapon, it is a tool. One that will be misused by some human. If they are smart AI, then I’m sure it will not fare well for humanity.
run sparky run!
…im legitimately disappointed that nobody beat me to it.
“It can’t be bargained with. It can’t be reasoned with. It doesn’t feel pity or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are gone!”
This is how ChiNet gets started, sorry I meant CloudNet – no that is not sound right either, CyberNet, maybe SkyNet!
First it stole my runners and I did nothing.
Then it took my clothes and I did nothing.
If it goes after my Ecycle battery it will be too late.
And if they start to wear shades we are all screwed.
We have all see the T-800 documentaries! /s
Honestly, I will welcome this robot if they help carry groceries, wash my house, clean my toilet, make my bed, fold my laundry, make me tea, cool me foods etc 😂 They need to do more than running. The military would love this to expand their ambitions or whatever, but as an average person, this do nothing. Great progression in this running tech tho.
The videos look like AI. No rocks or dust kicked up. Not a single terrain-related jiggle. The don’t really even appear to touch the ground. They’re no different than videos of Bigfoot. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof – videos with no context ain’t it. Nothing about the robots or videos appear to be substantiated by a disinterested third party.
I guess they could get quite a lot higher speed if they would make use of their ankle and the calf muscles to propel themselves forward. It looks really awkward, how they are ‘running’ with their feet flat on the ground. Maybe it’s necessary because they weigh so much and the whole ‘foot’ is needed to balance the machine?
This is why humans invented the wheel.,!