It finished a marathon and still had more road left in it. KAIST’s four-legged robot RAIBO2 covered all 42.195 kilometres in 4 hours, 19 minutes and 52 seconds on a single charge. The research behind that run was released in Korea today.
NowHitz Editorial · 2026-09-24 · From the archive
A robot marathon sounds like a story about speed. The team spent much of its effort on a different question: how much longer the robot could keep moving. They made the legs lighter, cut losses in the motors and drive electronics, and trained the gait to reduce slipping and the impact of each footfall.
Translating a technical record into everyday questions changes what stands out. How long can a machine work on one charge? Could it keep operating somewhere difficult for people to reach? These questions put sustained reliability ahead of a striking moment of performance.
RAIBO2 leaves a similar question behind. Not simply how fast a robot can run, but how long it can keep moving—and how far it might go in a person’s place. The next chapter of technology may become visible in daily life before it appears on a record board.
