Possibly the world's fastest remotely-controlled robot can run at swift speeds of up to 20mph, running for two hours on a single battery charge.
Developers are trying to raise money for the six-legged "OutRunner" robot as part of their Kickstarter campaign to bring the device to the public.
"The whole robotic world is really closed off right now. If you're not an engineer with a Ph.D., well, you won't be able to play with robots. I want to change that, so I started my company to commercialize robots," Sebastien Cotton, leader of Robotics Unlimited, a spinoff of the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition, said, according to The Associated Press.
OutRunner is less than 2 feet tall, weighs about 3 pounds, and has three legs on either side of a central motor and processing unit. It is biologically-inspired, mimicking the step patterns of a number of animals so that as a foot on one side is lifted, the one on the other is planted, the Kickstarter website reported.
The energy-efficient robot also can hold its own on a wide variety of terrains, including asphalt and dirt. It comes in two versions: Core and Performance. The core version ($299) is for those who simply want to play around with the robot, and can be used for children's educational purposes. The performance version ($799) is more powerful, faster, has a built-in camera and other perks, and is more used for racing purposes.
So far Kickstarter has gained support from more than 70 backers and has raised $15,000, though that's far from the campaign's June 7 goal of $150,000. Unfortunately, Kickstarter is an all-or-nothing event, so Cotton and company won't see a dime if the $150,000 goal isn't met.
The Robotics Unlimited team is finalizing the robot's design and expects OutRunner to launch in 2015.
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