Iron Robot: Panasonic Evolta to tackle triathlon

Sink or swim (and run and ride)

Iron Robot: Panasonic Evolta to tackle triathlon

16 September 2011 12:26 GMT / By Paul Lamkin

How far will Panasonic go to show off the power of its Evolta batteries? Just over 140 miles it seems.

That's the distance that the Evolta robot will have covered if it completes its latest "World Challenge" - the Hawaii Ironman Triathlon.

The challenge consists of a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike race and a 26-mile run. There are three versions of the robot prepared for the attempt, one for each aspect of the race.

"This is very tough even for a sportsman, but I think it is worth a try," said the robot's maker Tomotaka Takahashi. "The robot will encounter a lot of hardships on its way, but I hope it will overcome them all and succeed in the end."

We do too, and if it does, expect it to take around 168 hours once the event kicks off on 24 October.

Don't be too worried about little Evolta though. This is a robot with previous. It crossed the Grand Canyon and also walked 500km from Tokyo to Kyoto (there was a rail-strike that day).