Chinese robot walks over 134 km to set Guinness record

Beijing :A Chinese-built four-legged robot has walked its way in to the Guinness World Records by covering an incredible 134-km in 54 hours, beating a previous record held by an American bot.

The machine set a new world record for furthest distance covered by a quadruped robot, Guinness World Records said.
Developed by a team led by Professor Li Qingdu from the College of Automation of Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications, the robot, named Xingzhe No 1 or Walker 1, took the title after travelling 134.03km.

A quadruped robot is a single mechanical machine which is guided by a computer programme or electronic circuitry, with four articulated legs which do not have a wheel.

The Guinness World Records guidelines for this title state that the robot must complete its journey on a single charge or tank of fuel.

Moving continuously for 54 hours 34 minutes, Walker 1 completed 1,405 laps of a 95.39 m indoor track, running rings around the previous record-holder – Cornell University’s Ranger Robot, which covered a comparatively small distance of 65.18 km in New York, US, in 2011.

According to Qingdu – the man behind the research which began in November 2014 – its objective was to study electrical efficiency, increase the length a robot can trek, its reliability, durability and ability to perform remotely controlled missions in situations that would be dangerous for humans.

Walker 1’s developers were presented an official certificate by Guinness World Records representatives on November 1. PTI SAR AKJ

PTI