The Panasonic Evolta robot is to, ironically, take on the Ironman Triathlon in Hawaii. It is not a big deal for the Evolta; it has already conquered climbing out of the Grand Canyon and walked 500km from Tokyo to Kyoto. The Evolta is not very big it could almost fit in the palm of your hand. It runs on three rechargeable AA batteries. The task at hand seems insurmountable they have to swim 2.4 miles, bike 112, and run a 26.2-mile marathon all within a week's time.
The Evolta will accomplish this task using three different forms a swimming robot, a bicycling robot, and a running robot. Each of the Evolta's forms is not much larger than the bot itself. (The swimming module is slightly larger because it has been designed to keep it afloat.) Each segment of the race can only use 3 AA batteries. (I have a feeling it will not complete one of the tracks.)The race starts on October 23rd 2011 they will be keeping you updated via YouTube and twitter posts. It should be very exciting at the finish line.
Evolta creator Tomotaka Takahashi will be on hand during the weeklong event. He sure has a good job.
Eavesdropper