The world’s first true marathon for bipedal robots concluded this weekend, running a full 42.2km (26.2 miles) from the 24th~26th.  Only two teams completed the marathon, with Team Vstone winning by a mere second!  The final times were:

• 1st place: 54h 57m 50s for Team Vstone’s autonomous Robovie-PC
• 2nd place: 54h 57m 51s for Center Team’s silver Robovie-PC
• The Osaka Institute of Technology’s Team A stalled after 33.795km
• Job Creation Team made it 17.723km
• The Osaka Institute of Technology’s Team B failed after only 0.224km

The whole event, organized by Osaka-based robotics venture Vstone, was broadcast live on USTREAM.  Of course, since the robots themselves measure only 39cm (15 inches) tall, or roughly 1/4.5 scale, it might be fairer to say that they completed what amounts to 189.9km (118 miles) if it were scaled to human height.

[source: Vstone Robot Marathon (JP)] & [Yahoo! News (JP)]

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