We did take a glance at MABEL earlier this week, where it was touted to be the fastest bipedal robot in the world, capable of hitting speeds of 6.8 miles per hour (for folks who are using the metric system, that translates to 10.9km/h). Researchers over at the University of Michigan’s Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science do think that this is the fastest bipedal robot developed to date, but have stopped short of saying that it is the fastest – obviously, such a lofty claim might have repercussions if you are going to be a credible body.
MABEL, after all, is attached to a boom that will help it maintain its balance along the Sagittal plane, where some folks refer to it as “cheating”. Remember the Honda ASIMO? Well, at Honda’s celebration of ASIMO’s 9th birthday, Masato Hirose, the Chief Engineer of ASIMO, did say that the ASIMO was capable of achieve running speeds that are greater than 10m/h. Honda has decided to limit ASIMO’s running speed to just 6km/h, since that speed was touted to be fast enough for most purposes, hence making it more stable.
While Honda has yet to release any video of the ASIMO hitting top stride, just who will take the title of the “fastest bipedal robot”?
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