China's humanoid robot proven to be the fastest in the world

TPO - Scientists have demonstrated that China's STAR1 humanoid robot can run at a top speed of more than 8 miles per hour (mph) — or 3.6 meters per second (m/s) to be exact. This makes it the fastest robot ever built, although this speed is achieved with the help of footwear.

The STAR1 robot can reach a top speed of 8 mph with the help of its sneakers . (Photo: Robot Era)

STAR1 is a bipedal robot built by Chinese company Robot Era, which stands 171 cm tall and weighs 65 kg. In a promotional video , the team pitted two STAR1 robots against each other in the Gobi Desert in northwest China and gave it a pair of sneakers to see if this would help it run faster.

Equipped with a high-torque motor and artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm, the shoe-wearing STAR1 can move on a variety of terrains, including grassland and gravel, while running on paved and dirt roads, and maintain a top speed for 34 minutes.

The top speed of 8 mph means it beats Unitree's H1 robot — which set the previous speed record for a bipedal robot at 7.4 mph (3.3 m/s) in March 2024.

Although the STAR1 has the support of footwear, the H1 technically does not jog or run because its two feet do not leave the ground at the same time during movement.

The STAR1 is equipped with AI hardware that boasts a processing power of 275 trillion operations per second (TOPS), according to the Robot Era website. This is much higher than the typical amount of AI processing power you'll find in many of the best laptops, which range from 45 to 55 TOPS. The robot also has 12 degrees of freedom, which is the number of joints it has and the range of motion it can perform.

STAR1 is just one of several humanoid robots that companies around the world have introduced in recent months, including Tesla's Optimus Gen-2 robot, the AI-powered Figure 01 robot, and Boston Dynamics' new Atlas.

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According to Live Science