Runbot

I have been watching Daily Planet (the TV show) lately, and was intrigued by their report on RunBot (a speedy two-legged robot).

Here, for more details, is a quotation from NewScientist.com:

"A two-legged robot that walks at record-breaking speed has been developed by researchers from Germany and Scotland.

'RunBot' is the fastest robot on two legs — for its size. At 30 centimetres high, it can walk at a speedy 3.5 leg-lengths per second. This beats the previous record holder — MIT's 'Spring Flamingo' — which is four times as tall but manages just 1.4 leg-lengths per second."

If you wish to see RunBot in action, here is an mpeg video (can be viewed with QuickTime — possibly also with Windows Media Player/RealPlayer/etc.). May you find the video as amusing as I do.

Note that the video is nothing without the sound, so turn up the volume! :o)

Edited to add: The blog has been loading very slowly lately, and it is getting annoying. In hopes of speeding up matters, I have chosen to link to the video above, rather than embedding it in the post. I have made other (significant) changes to the post as well.