Robot Marathons, Japan’s Next Contribution To Society

It's official!  The Japanese have wwaaaaayyyy too much time on their hands!  Next up from the country that has brought us urinal video games and cubed watermelons...robots running marathons!

How come these people aren't as fat as we are?

On February 24th, in Osaka, Japan, three "tiny two-legged" robots, and one on wheels, will compete in a full 26.2 mile race.  Oh, and that's not even the best part.  It's going to take them 4 days. (groan)  I don't even have the patience if my computer takes more than 10 seconds to download something.

But, given that the tallest of the bunch is only 16 inches high, and that they have to run around the 328ft course a total of 422 times, it's understandable...I guess.

The robots will be allowed battery changes and repairs if needed, but they will have to get up on their own if they fall over.

So, probably a good idea to make those plane reservations now.  We'd also like to thank the Osaka Institute of Technology for this daring attempt at making history.

You can catch the full story, here, complete with video of one of the little guys in action.  And just because it's kind of cool, I've thrown in a link for you to check out some of the other contributions from our Eastern friends.