Chinese humanoid robot is the 'fastest in the world' thanks to its trusty pair of sneakers
The STAR1 robot can reach a top speed of 8 mph with the added help of a pair of sneakers.
Scientists have demonstrated a new humanoid robot that can run at a top speed of just over 8 miles per hour (mph) — or 3.6 meters per second (m/s) to be exact. This makes it the speediest machine of its kind built so far, albeit these speeds were only achieved with the help of added footwear.
STAR1 is a bipedal robot built by the Chinese company Robot Era that's 5 feet 7 inches (171 centimeters) tall and weighs 143 pounds (65 kilograms).
In a promotional video, the team put two STAR1 robots up against each other in the Gobi Desert in northwestern China, and gave one model a pair of sneakers to see if this would make it run quicker.
Powered by high-torque motors and artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms, the footwear-donning STAR1 navigated different types of terrain, including grassland and gravel, while jogging on paved roads and earth, and sustained its top speed for 34 minutes.
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