A Cornell University robot named Ranger has traveled 14.3 miles in about 11 hours, setting an unofficial world record at Cornell's Barton Hall earlier this month. A human — armed with nothing more than a standard toy remote control — steered the untethered robot.
Ranger navigated 108.5 times around the Barton Hall indoor track — about 212 meters per lap — and made about 70,000 steps before it had to stop and recharge. The 14.3-mile record beats the former world record set by Boston Dynamics' BigDog, which had claimed the record at 12.8 miles.
A group of engineering students led by Andy Ruina, Cornell professor of theoretical and applied mechanics, announced the robotic record July 9 at the Dynamic Walking 2010 meeting in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Ruina leads the Biorobotics and Locomotion Laboratory at Cornell. The research is funded by the National Science Foundation.
For the complete story, and a video of the robot in action, see Cornell's Ranger Robot Power-Walks into the Record Books With 14.3-Mile Stroll.
