After scaling the cliff walls of the Grand Canyon and driving the Le Mans racetrack for 24 hours, a tiny Japanese robot is set for a new challenge — Hawaii’s grueling Ironman Triathlon course.
Fitted with three different bodies and three rechargeable batteries, the hand-sized “Evolta” from electronics firm Panasonic will swim, bicycle and run its way through one of the world’s toughest triathlon routes, the company said yesterday.
“This is very tough even for a sportsman, but I think it is worth a challenge,” said Tomotaka Takahashi, who created the green-and-white toy-like robot. “The robot will encounter a lot of hardships on its way, but I hope it will overcome them all and succeed in the end.”
Photo: AFP
The robot will have to swim, run and bike for a total of approximately 230km. The time given to complete the task is one week or 168 hours, which is 10 times longer than it would take a sportsman.
“Evolta’s height is just one-tenth of a grown man, so we figured out that it would take it 10 times more time,” Takahashi added.
Of the three bodies, which include one mounted on a tiny bicycle and another in a round hoop with a supporting rear wheel, the 51cm high swimming robot — mounted on a curved, fin-like blade with its arms stretched out — presented special challenges.
Photo: Reuters
“I had to think of the ways to make it water-proof and protect it from mold as much as possible,” Takahashi said.
The batteries the robot bears on its back, which go on sale in Japan on Oct. 21, can be recharged up to 1,800 times by being placed on a recharger pad.
The triathlon challenge begins on Oct. 24 and will continue non-stop for seven days and nights. The actual Ironman World Championship takes place early next month.
Photo: AFP
Among its other achievements, Evolta has also walked the 500km from Tokyo to the old Japanese capital of Kyoto.
DIVIDED VIEWS: Although the Fed agreed on holding rates steady, some officials see no rate cuts for this year, while 10 policymakers foresee two or more cuts There are a lot of unknowns about the outlook for the economy and interest rates, but US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell signaled at least one thing seems certain: Higher prices are coming. Fed policymakers voted unanimously to hold interest rates steady at a range of 4.25 percent to 4.50 percent for a fourth straight meeting on Wednesday, as they await clarity on whether tariffs would leave a one-time or more lasting mark on inflation. Powell said it is still unclear how much of the bill would fall on the shoulders of consumers, but he expects to learn more about tariffs
NOT JUSTIFIED: The bank’s governor said there would only be a rate cut if inflation falls below 1.5% and economic conditions deteriorate, which have not been detected The central bank yesterday kept its key interest rates unchanged for a fifth consecutive quarter, aligning with market expectations, while slightly lowering its inflation outlook amid signs of cooling price pressures. The move came after the US Federal Reserve held rates steady overnight, despite pressure from US President Donald Trump to cut borrowing costs. Central bank board members unanimously voted to maintain the discount rate at 2 percent, the secured loan rate at 2.375 percent and the overnight lending rate at 4.25 percent. “We consider the policy decision appropriate, although it suggests tightening leaning after factoring in slackening inflation and stable GDP growth,”
Meta Platforms Inc offered US$100 million bonuses to OpenAI employees in an unsuccessful bid to poach the ChatGPT maker’s talent and strengthen its own generative artificial intelligence (AI) teams, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has said. Facebook’s parent company — a competitor of OpenAI — also offered “giant” annual salaries exceeding US$100 million to OpenAI staffers, Altman said in an interview on the Uncapped with Jack Altman podcast released on Tuesday. “It is crazy,” Sam Altman told his brother Jack in the interview. “I’m really happy that at least so far none of our best people have decided to take them
PLANS: MSI is also planning to upgrade its service center in the Netherlands Micro-Star International Co (MSI, 微星) yesterday said it plans to set up a server assembly line at its Poland service center this year at the earliest. The computer and peripherals manufacturer expects that the new server assembly line would shorten transportation times in shipments to European countries, a company spokesperson told the Taipei Times by telephone. MSI manufactures motherboards, graphics cards, notebook computers, servers, optical storage devices and communication devices. The company operates plants in Taiwan and China, and runs a global network of service centers. The company is also considering upgrading its service center in the Netherlands into a
RSS