Every year hundreds of triathletes venture to Hawaii Island to try and prove something.
This year they weren’t alone.
You’ve probably seen athletes emerge out of the water at the Ironman after swimming more than two miles, but this is no ordinary athlete.
It’s a robot, taking on the Ironman, like thousands of humans before it, racing with a time limit in place.
"Actually 168 hours are about ten times more than the human Ironman time limitation. Because robots are ten times smaller than human being. That means he needs ten times more time,” said Tomotaka Takahashi, Evolta robot creator.
After the swim, bike robot went about pedaling it’s little bicycle 112 miles.
Then it was run robots turn, a marathon, and all this on the same re-chargeable three batteries.
Each tiny robot moves only a mile an hour or so.
But the bots did have a little help with direction.
"The infrared is pulled by somebody. Like for the swimming one we put infrared on the surfboard, and the rescue guy is paddling the surfboard, and the tiny robot is following the rescue guy,” said Takahashi.
This is actually the 4th annual Evolta World Challenge.
The tiny bots have climbed the Grand Canyon, raced for 24 hours, and trekked from Kyoto to Tokyo.
"I’m the only person responsible for the robots. So, it was huge pressure on me. So, I feel so relieved,” said Takahashi.
Relieved because remember that goal of less than 168 hours? The robots completed the 140-miles plus course in 166 hours and 56 minutes.
See the original article at: KHON2 Local News
