Running Robot Discovers the Problem With Corners

The robot got back on its feet. The two electrical boxes it had just flattened were not so fortunate.

The mechanical runner was sprinting around a track in Beijing when it encountered one of athletics’ more traditional hazards: a corner. Having managed the straight section with apparent confidence, it attempted to take the bend, lost control and veered off course towards the trackside electrical equipment.

Unfortunately, the robot could not stop in time. It crashed into two metal electrical boxes beside the track and knocked both of them over, turning what had been preparations for a sports event into a brief demonstration of why circuits are usually kept separate from track events.

The incident was captured in footage filmed on August 17 in Chaoyang District, Beijing. The video shows the robot running at speed before the bend begins to ask difficult questions about direction, balance and braking. Rather than following the curve of the track, the machine continues outwards and makes forceful contact with the boxes.

There is no dramatic pause for embarrassment, largely because robots have yet to be burdened with it. After the collision, the runner recovers and returns to an upright position. The footage ends there, with the robot standing again while both boxes remain toppled beside the track.

No people are shown being struck, and the brief clip offers no further details about damage to the robot or the electrical boxes. It also does not identify the model of the machine or the sports event for which preparations were under way.

What it does establish is that the robot can sprint, collide with trackside infrastructure and recover from the experience. Cornering remains a work in progress.

There was no reported finishing time, although the two boxes were comprehensively beaten to the ground. Nor is there any information about whether the robot resumed its run after the camera stopped or whether the equipment was put upright again.

For now, the final standings are clear enough: the robot finished on its feet, the electrical boxes finished on their sides, and humanity retains a narrow but valuable advantage in the discipline of standing near a bend without knocking over the utilities.