Cassie sets new 100 meter world record

© Agility Robotics.

Agility Robotics’ bipedal robot Cassie has come a long way since its baby steps in 2017. It might still look like a headless, neckless ostrich, but its bipedal technology is smoother and much faster. It even beat a world record for the 100-meter dash with a time of 24.73 seconds and an average speed of 4 m/s (32.4 km/h). That’s way less than the human record of 9.58 seconds set by Usain Bolt (37.58 km/h average speed), but it still beats what most of us can do (unless this author is riding his bike…). Cassie’s designers say that engineering the robot to run wasn’t the hardest part – it also has to be able to start and stop. “Starting and stopping in a standing position are more difficult than the running part, similar to how taking off and landing are harder than actually flying a plane,” said Oregon State University professor Alan Fern in an OSU press release.

⇨ YouTube, “Cassie Sets World Record for 100M Run.”

⇨ The Verge, James Vincent, “Bipedal robot sets 100 meter record.”

2022-10-04