Chinese 'Walker 1' Robot Sets Guinness World Record For Distance Travelled

This Robot Might Look Odd But It Can Do Something Incredibly Cool

This is Walker 1, a robot that at first glance looks like a box with some stalks awkwardly poking out of it.

Visually, that's actually quite a good description of this permanently stumbling robot, but see beyond its 'cereal box' looks and there's a record-breaking robot staring right back at you.

Created by a research team from China's Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Walker 1 set a Guinness World Record by travelling a massive 134km in just 54 hours.

The fast-moving robot pretty much doubled the distance covered by the previous record holder and managed to do it while travelling 1.18 times fast.

Despite setting this gruelling time, Walker 1 was able to do it all using just 0.8kwh. To put that into perspective, that amount of energy would only let you play your favourite games console for less than five hours before running out of juice.

Boston Dynamics has already built a range of walking robots that can imitate the movements of a dog. Known as 'Spot' these heavy-duty robots might look more impressive but Walker 1 has been designed with efficiency in mind.

These larger robots are expensive and can burn through their batteries far quicker than expected. With further research the hope is to create a new generation of far more efficient walking robots.

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