The Track and Field Robot That Will Outrun Usain Bolt [video]

Meet OutRunner, the world’s first remote-controlled robot that’s capable of outpacing the likes of Usain Bolt, the fastest man on the planet.

Born from the idea that everybody should be able to experience and enjoy the fun of working with robots, OutRunner was “biologically-inspired,” emulating the movements and behaviors of legged animals.

Sebastien Cotton, the founder and CEO of Robotics Unlimited, spoke with Edge about the innovation and likens the design of the OutRunner to that of bipeds, “A lot of people are wondering if that is not just a wheel without the rim. My answer is not at all.

A global robot race isn’t the only thing that Cotton is hoping the OutRunner will be used for. Among other things, Cotton expressed a desire for the running robot to be used as a drone “to perform exploration missions;” as a pace keeper for joggers; and as an educational tool for youngsters or adults interested in engineering or the science behind building robots.

“Each leg of the robot is spring loaded with a very specific stiffness and damping, without that you’ll simply end up with some kind of chaotic bouncing motion,” says Cotton. “The mass and length distribution of each element of the robot are also of fundamental importance to obtain a stable running motion.”