This humanoid robot smashed a walking record, but we’d love to know more

A humanoid robot has strolled into the record books after completing the longest-ever walk by such a machine.

Built by Chinese robotics firm AgiBot, the A2’s record-breaking trek covered 106.3 kilometers (66 miles) and took three days to complete, ending along Shanghai’s famous Bund waterfront promenade.

Footage shows the full-size humanoid robot walking purposefully through urban areas, alongside national highways, and over bridges.

Powered by AgiBot’s rapid hot-swap battery system, the A2 robot was able to walk continuously without taking a break.

“Walking from Suzhou to Shanghai is a tough task even for many humans, but the robot achieved it,” Wang Chuang, senior vice president of AgiBot, said in widely reported comments.

Wang added: “It proves the maturity of the robot’s hardware, cerebellar balance algorithms, and endurance, laying a solid foundation for large-scale commercial deployment.”

While certainly an impressive feat, it would be good to find out more about how the challenge proceeded. Here, for example, are a few questions that come to mind.

How long did it take to swap the battery?

We’d like to have seen the AgiBot team swap the battery, to see just how smooth the process is during such an endeavor. We have no idea how many times the battery had to be swapped out, either.

Was the entire route input before the walk started?

The route will have been carefully mapped out for the robot, but were any adjustments needed along the way in response to how the humanoid robot was dealing with its ever-changing environment? That could tell us something about the robot’s ability to autonomously adapt to its surroundings.

To what degree was the robot monitored during its walk?

While it’s highly unlikely that AgiBot’s A2 robot was left to walk the route in isolation, it would be interesting to know how much human support it had along the way. Was there a large team close behind, perhaps, or just one or two people on hand to change the battery when necessary?

Was any maintenance work needed on the robot?

The company also declines to mention if the A2 robot required any maintenance during the walk, or tell us how well its numerous mechanical parts handled the rigors of such a lengthy hike. Did it break down at any point, for example, or did the AgileBot team learn something new about its durability during the event?

Did the robot face any particular challenges during its walk?

Perhaps the walk went without any hitches at all, but we don’t know for sure. Hopefully, AgiBot will share some information on what issues the robot encountered during its record-breaking walk. The A2 features obstacle avoidance sensors, so mishaps were presumably on the low side. But as it was out in a regular environment, walking alongside people and vehicles, there’s a good chance that it came up against some tricky situations for the first time. So how well did it handle them?

AgiBot is one of a growing number of firms around the world developing a humanoid robot for the workplace and even the home. The designs are improving all the time, but it’s still hard to put a date on when any of the companies will be in a position to mass produce their robot and incorporate them into a workforce in a truly meaningful way.