Panasonic sure knows how to promote their EVOLTA brand of rechargeable batteries: first, a cute mini robot powered by the batteries hoisted itself up a 500 meter-cliff at Grand Canyon, then an EVOLTA robot took on the Le Mans 24 circuit in France, before traveling 500KM from Tokyo to Kyoto last year.
And now Panasonic announced [JP] plans to let the little guy start at the Ironman Triathlon in Hawaii on October 24 (the company is to launch a line of improved EVOLTA batteries next month). In other words, the robot is supposed to swim 2.4 miles, ride a bike for 112 miles before running a marathon (26.2 miles) – all powered by EVOLTA batteries.
Panasonic says they will use one special robot for each of the challenges (see below) and that they will recharge the batteries on the way (the whole race stretches 140 miles, after all).
Panasonic expects the EVOLTA robots to complete the Ironman in about a week’s time. We’ll keep you posted.
Here’s a video showing the swimming model (running, cycling):
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aO3dy38Ygc&w=560&h=315]
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Via Kaden Watch [JP]
