If you’ve run a marathon in China recently you may have noticed that some of your competitors running styles are among the more unusual you’ve seen.
First of all, they’ve got an extra pair of legs.
Leading innovation as usual, China have unveiled the latest in their athletic technology experiments, with robots joining their human counterparts in recent marathons in Hangzhou and Beijing.
In fact, in Hangzhou, a four-legged robot named B2 was actually part of the race team, setting the pace at the front of the half marathon event. For those at the front of the race, the dog-like robot (which joined many other participants in wearing an adorable costume for the event) was quite the novel company.
But the more casual runners, those who entered for the joy of taking part or breaking their own records, weren’t left out.
B2’s robotic counterpart, another four-legged robot named GO2, ran further back, mingling with other participants according to the Global Times.
This was the ideal showcase for the robot dog from Chinese robotics company Unitree. According to their website, their robotic dog can run up to six meters per second. It’s not quite Usain Bolt, but the robot can maintain its speed for between four to six hours, with its consistency making it an ideal pace…
