Two-Legged Robots Are Getting Better at Running

Let’s say you’re out for a jog one day and a runner unexpectedly passes you. What’s unexpected about this scenario is that the runner in question isn’t human at all, but is instead a robot of the two-legged variety. A scene that might have been the stuff of science fiction not that long ago is getting closer to being science fact — with all of the potential for dystopian narratives that comes along with it.

Late last month, robotics company Unitree provided an update on their engineering in the form of a short video showcasing their two-legged robots sauntering down a boardwalk, making their way across uneven terrain and catching up with a human jogger.

As Live Science’s Peter Ray Allison pointed out, there are a few caveats to the robots’ performance — notably that all of the clips are shown in media res, without a sense of how long the robots took to achieve these admittedly impressive feats. Unitree’s website touts a number of features on this model — the G1 — including both LIDAR and a camera capable of understanding depth.

This Two-Legged Robot Runs Faster Than the Average Human

Turns out having sneakers on helps

Unitree also added some disclaimers to the tech specifications cautioning prospective users about running afoul of its robots. “The humanoid robot has a complex structure and extremely powerful power,” the company writes — and asks users to “keep a sufficient safe distance” between themselves and the robots. But if you are interested in a robot companion for your daily jog, the G1 starts at $16,000.

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Tobias Carroll

Tobias Carroll lives and writes in New York City, and has been covering a wide variety of subjects — including (but not limited to) books, soccer and drinks — for many years. His writing has been published by the likes of the Los Angeles Times, Pitchfork, Literary Hub, Vulture, Punch, the New York Times and Men’s Journal. At InsideHook, he has…