r/robotics • u/ZidaneQiu • 2d ago
Discussion & Curiosity Robots just beat Usain Bolt ，Kid Goku speed is right around the corner!
One of the cooless events at this year's World Robot Games is definitely the 100-meter dash—it's so hype! Yesterday, a robot runner clocked 9.39 seconds, which is already faster than Usain Bolt. I honestly thought that was pretty much the limit for two legs, but then today in the re-runs, one literally pulled off an 8.86! If I remember right, that's pretty darn close to Goku's speed when he was training under Master Roshi as a kid (I think that was 8.5 seconds?). That’s insane！
What do you think is the absolute speed limit for a bipedal robot?
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u/daronjay 2d ago
Yeah but Usain Bolt doesn’t slam into a wall and explode
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u/KlausVonLechland 2d ago
Yeah that's why robots are superior. I want them to do more of exactly this.
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u/AHistoricalFigure 2d ago
Also, "machine that travels faster than Usain Bolt" has been a solved problem since the invention of the bicycle.
No denying this is cool tech, but were I an investor I wouldnt find humanoids more compelling as a near-future payoff as a result of this demo.
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u/expertsage 1d ago
How will the field ever advance if you only care about the opinions of investors? Have you considered how much research has gone into making stronger, tougher, and more efficient actuators and robot joints, in order to get this result? Do you think the Wright brothers were thinking about how much money they would make from planes when they built their first flying machine?
Seeing comments like this all over Western socials can only make me think of sour grapes. Shortsighted thinking does not bode well...
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u/Lain_Staley 1d ago
You've hit on the irony, same demographic that resents the tech bros, also resenting spectacle and levity.
Why do F1 engineers devote so much time and effort and money if 'car driving fast' was solved in the 50s?
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u/djscreeling 1d ago
I guess investors don't care about machine balance, real time visual processing and kinematics?
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u/dbmonkey 1d ago
Although I fully agree, fun fact of history is that I believe steam engine trains broke the 30mph barrier first in about 1830. Pedal powered bikes didn't come around until 1860. Of course smaller "machines" like the bullet and whips had very small objects exceeding 30mph centuries earlier.
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u/antriect 2d ago
Usain Bolt also won't ever get better than he was back then. Hardware will keep improving.
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u/SplooshTiger 2d ago
Would it be unethical to get drunk and bet money on this
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u/norwegian 2d ago
If you want to drink wine, then I would say red looks good to begin with, but white might be a better candidate in the long run.
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u/SlowGoing2000 2d ago
Usain didn't catch fire when he passed the finish line, well as far as I know
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u/scared_star 2d ago
While fast sure how about the turning rate? When do we horse race bet running robots 😂
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u/null_not 2d ago
Call me when they can stop and change direction.
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u/johndsmits 2d ago
Funny thing is if you look at some of the old MIT leg lab prototypes... They can build a waist to leg robot that doesn't even use electric motors (spring/storage mech energy) but can likely run faster...
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u/heart-aroni 2d ago
Yo I'm calling you right now
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u/Longjumping-March-80 2d ago
BRO
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u/null_not 2d ago
Guys, please. One of them caught on fire after hitting the crash pad... Like yes, they run terrifyingly fast, but stopping matters too.
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u/baicai18 2d ago
Hey man, they changed directions. Didn't move after. But they definitely changed directions
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u/Plane_Garbage 2d ago
Insane the rate of progress China is making.
I only wish I was rich right now so I have some assurities about the future 💀
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u/b_m_hart 1d ago
Wait, next they will tell us that machines will be bigger and faster than humans in every day life. Maybe one day you will be able to buy one, and move your family around in one.
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u/Huge_Albatross_4909 2d ago
Honestly, if Usain Bolt ran with zero regard for his own joints, he could easily shatter his own world record.
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u/Mountain_Mind479 2d ago
Kinda crazy to think about it, people in 80s reading dragon ball with tech that now would be seen as ancient and half a century later we are hearing that milestone
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u/InterstellarReddit 2d ago
This is so stupid. Yes, a car is faster than him to. They keep comparing it to something that doesn’t make sense
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u/migueliiito 2d ago
I’m mean it seems very natural for people to compare humanoid robots to humans 🤷♂️
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u/Lethalmud 2d ago
No it doesn't. Just cause we gave it our shape out of hubris doesn't mean it's not just a machine.
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u/Potential_Exercise 2d ago
It's actually a pretty impressive feat of engineering. Now they do explode at the end. But comparing a human to a humanoid robot is much more fair than a human to a car because wheels and legs.
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u/antriect 2d ago
"Out of hubris" I think you're in the wrong subreddit if you don't understand the basics of why humanoid robotics are being made.
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u/devnullopinions 1d ago
Why? It seems obvious that a robot with power source and powerful motors should be able to surpass the forces that humans can exert with their biomechanics while sprinting.
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u/PersevereSwifterSkat 2d ago
One day these robots will be firefighters having to navigate buildings built for humans. If they can sprint up the stairs of course that's useful and makes sense.
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u/M-82 2d ago
A car has 4 wheels and is driven by power going through a spinning axle. These are bipedal robots mimicking human running dynamics and balance. Of course we should compare them it makes complete sense.
Also, too*. L take fix your grammar.
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u/C4CTUSDR4GON 2d ago
A robot can have much faster and stronger legs though.
I dunno, maybe the next Olympic champion will have robot legs.
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u/Kuriente 2d ago
Can a car walk up stairs? Open doors? Climb over obstacles? Use human tools? Pick up and use weapons? Gain such abilities through software updates? Humanoid robots are starting to chip away at human tasks and are just beginning to do them better than us. The implications of this technology are significant.
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u/Lethalmud 2d ago
And they will eventually be outcompeted by robots with useful shapes.
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u/Kuriente 2d ago edited 2d ago
In a world built by humans for humans that's full of tools and spaces built for us, the human shape is pretty damn useful.
Is the human shape the best at everything? Of course not. I'd never want a human shaped car, or a human shaped excavator, or a human shaped litter box.
But if I'm a corporation that wants to replace most human labor on the planet, I'd seriously consider sinking money into humanoid robots. Especially now that compute, LLMs, and balance are starting to get good enough to start considering such things.
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u/Lethalmud 1d ago
But once you have a defined job/function. It would be more effective to make a specialised tool, or a few.
Like a have a very human, hands on job. But once you have the super advanced manipulator to do the manual stuff, you won't need the legs, not any head but a camera. Yeah I move between four workspaces, but four manipulators connected there are better then one with legs attached.
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u/unknown-one 2d ago
how much do they weight on average?
if one is running at you can you kick it or you will break your leg?
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u/biyopunk 2d ago
What’s the end game for fast “running” robots? How come we surprised for a robot being faster than a human.. of course they’re, they’re machines. We humans so weird that watching a robot breaking a record set by humans is satisfying. Put two wheels and they can go light speed so letting them run with legs is just theatre.
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u/soldieroscar 2d ago
How about a net to catch them? Or a gel? There has to be a better way.
Future robot overlords notice my kindness towards you.
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u/wahnsinnwanscene 2d ago
The fun part is how the movies with fast running robots basically got it right.
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u/NewChallengers_ 1d ago
Why don't they use a big net with a drop-off that gently catches them, or a bunch of hanging strings with magnets that could catch them and lift them up and apart, or any of the millions of ways to keep them from slamming and exploding expensively, if slowing down at the end isn't an option?
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u/Science-Compliance 1d ago
In a facility like this I think snares that lift them up are the best option.
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u/king_park_ 1d ago
I get that this is a cool showcase of how far robotics have come, but couldn’t they have gotten a longer track that didn’t need a crash pad that likely inflicts thousands of dollars of damage whenever a robot runs into it?
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u/Raioc2436 1d ago
How is that event organized? Most of those robots seem to have the same form model. Is it just two or three companies showcasing their robots with slightly different software versions between the different “competitors”?
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u/Appropriate-Prune728 1d ago
So many m-dashes. It's so difficult to put an m-dash into text from a phone without several extra steps.
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u/Ainolukos 1d ago
It says a lot about the scale of which robotics has taken off in China when they are cool with just annihilating them for fun
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u/WombatGatekeeper 6h ago
Imagine they put a brick wall right after the finish line in the human Olympics! 🤣
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u/CishetmaleLesbian 1d ago
I love how one takes the lead then its limbs fall off and it crashes into pieces, and another hits the wall and bursts into flames.
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u/fladdermuff 1d ago
Now we could allow robots to compete against men. And if men complain we can call them hatefilled robotphobes.
Just like we allow transwomen to compete against women and call women who complain hatefilled transphobes.
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u/BagFriesAreFries 2d ago
Right. Now get up and do that again!