Robot runs marathon in South Korea, apparently the first time this has happened

The South Korean Advanced Institute of Science and Technology has forced one of its robo-dogs to run a marathon. The Boston Dynamics-esque quadrupedal walking robot became the first of its kind to complete a full-course marathon in an official event, according to a Sunday announcement from the Institute. The race was the 22nd Sangju Dried-Persimmon Marathon, which Raibo2 finished in four hours, 19 minutes and 52 seconds.

The (human) first place winner finished in two hours, 36 minutes, and 32 seconds. Raibo2 poses for its finisher portrait – Click to enlarge Raibo2 completed the 26.2 miles (42.



195km) course – which is notable for its nasty pair of 50m hills – on a single battery charge. KAIST noted that the course and its elevation changes made it an especially demanding feat for a robo dog as "unexpected losses in efficiency could occur." Raibo2 was trained for stable walking on terrains like slopes and icy roads using reinforcement learning algorithms in a custom simulation environment named RaiSim.

Its predecessor, Raibo, could already walk on sand. A high torque transparency joint mechanism enabled Raibo2 to harness energy on downhill slopes, for later use of speed and power when climbing hills or elsewhere. A collaboration with Raion Robotics – a robotics company founded by researchers from the university – allowed the students to be guided by robotics professionals as they refined the robot's mechanical design.

This included making sure the robodog could mitigate frequent impacts, and their subsequent periodic vibrations – which can damage mechanical systems. Raion Robotics'scontributions included integration of certain components – including the motor driver circuitry. That integration focused on minimizing actuator losses and increasing control bandwidth.

All critical components – including mechanism design, electrical design, software, and artificial intelligence – were customized in-house. The team plans to follow up Raibo2's marathon achievement by adding autonomous navigation functions. While having a robodog run a marathon may seem silly, it demonstrates the potential for other real-world applications – like urban delivery, patrol tasks, or search and rescue missions.

Samsung Electronics reportedly showed an interest by supporting the research, although the university did not specify the extent of the giant firm’s contribution. One PhD student revealed the next team goal was to have a robodog that can "achieve the world's best walking performance in mountainous and disaster environments." ®.