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Tag: world records

  • Chinese Robot Sets Guinness World Record With 66-Mile Walk

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    The Chinese robotics company AgiBot has set a new world record for the longest continuous journey walked by a humanoid robot. AgiBot’s A2 walked 106.286 kilometers (66.04 miles), according to Guinness World Records, making the trek from Nov. 10-13.

    The robot journeyed from Jinji Lake in China’s Jiangsu province to Shanghai’s Bund waterfront district, according to China’s Global Times news outlet. The robot never powered off and reportedly continued to operate while batteries were swapped out, according to UPI.

    A video posted to YouTube shows a highly edited version of the walk that doesn’t give much insight into how it was presumably monitored by human handlers. But even if it did have some humans playing babysitter, the journey included just about everything you’d expect when traveling by foot in an urban environment, including different types of ground, limited visibility at night, and slopes, according to the Global Times.

    The robot obeyed traffic signals, but it’s unclear what level of autonomy may have been at work. The company told the Global Times that “the robot was equipped with dual GPS modules along with its built-in lidar and infrared depth cameras, giving it the sensing capability needed for accurate navigation through changing light conditions and complex urban environments.”

    That suggests it was fully autonomous, and the Guinness Book of World Records used the word “autonomous,” though Gizmodo couldn’t independently confirm that claim.

    “Walking from Suzhou to Shanghai is difficult for many people to do in one go, yet the robot completed it,” Wang Chuang, partner and senior vice president at AgiBot, told the Global Times.

    The amount of autonomy a robot is operating under is a big question when it comes to companies rolling out their demonstrations. Elon Musk’s Optimus robot has been ridiculed at various points because the billionaire has tried to imply his Tesla robot is more autonomous than it actually is in real life.

    For example, Musk posted a video in January 2024 that appeared to show Optimus folding a shirt. That’s historically been a difficult task for robots to accomplish autonomously. And, as it turns out, Optimus was actually being teleoperated by someone who was just off-screen. Well, not too far off-screen. The teleoperator’s hand was peeking into the frame, which is how people figured it out.

    Tesla’s Optimus robot folding laundry in Jan. 2024 with an annotation of a red arrow added by Gizmodo showing the human hand. Gif: Tesla / Gizmodo

    Musk did something similar in October 2024 when he showed off Optimus robots supposedly pouring beer during his big Cybercab event in Los Angeles. They were teleoperated as well.

    It’s entirely possible that AgiBot’s A2 walked the entire route autonomously. The tech really is getting that good, even if long-lasting batteries are still a big hurdle. But obviously, people need to remain skeptical when it comes to spectacular claims in the robot race.

    We’ve been promised robotic servants for over a century now. And the people who have historically sold that idea are often unafraid to use deception to hype up their latest achievements. Remember Miss Honeywell of 1968? Or Musk’s own unveiling of Optimus? They were nothing more than humans in a robot costume.

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    Matt Novak

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  • July 4th Was the Hottest Day Ever Recorded on Earth | Entrepreneur

    July 4th Was the Hottest Day Ever Recorded on Earth | Entrepreneur

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    Fireworks weren’t the only thing sizzling on July 4.

    According to the U.S. National Centers for Environmental Prediction, the global temperature soared to 62.92 degrees Fahrenheit (17.18 degrees Celsius), making the day the hottest since at least 1979, when the data was first collected.

    But some scientists believe the Earth hasn’t experienced heat like this since mammoths roamed the planet.

    “It hasn’t been this warm since at least 125,000 years ago, which was the previous interglacial,” Paulo Ceppi, a climate scientist at London’s Grantham Institute, told The Washington Post.

    Just how hot was it? According to the Post’s extreme heat tracker, 57 million people in the US were exposed to dangerous heat yesterday. Texas has been under a deadly heat dome since last week, causing a public health crisis in that state.

    Meanwhile, China has also been blanketed by a heat wave, the Antarctic is reporting record-high temperatures even though it’s winter, and temperatures in North Africa soared to 122F, according to Reuters.

    Related: Bad Weather Won’t Ruin Your Vacation Anymore — One Company Will Pay You to Enjoy It Rain or Shine

    The worst is yet to come

    Climate scientists say the scorching weather is due to climate change, El Niño, and the start of summer.

    While Tuesday’s record-breaking average temperature surpassed the previous mark of 62.62 Fahrenheit, which was set the day before, many believe even warmer temperatures are on the horizon.

    “When’s the hottest day likely to be? It’s going to be when global warming, El Niño, and the annual cycle all line up together. Which is the next couple months,” said Myles Allen, a professor of geosystem science at Oxford University, told the Post. “It’s a triple whammy.”

    The heat’s impact on the economy

    The extreme heat doesn’t just impact our health — it also affects the economy.

    “Extended bouts of great heat can result in more hospital visits, a sharp loss of productivity in construction and agriculture, reduced agricultural yields, and even direct damage to infrastructure,” according to Phys.org, a science, research, and technology news site.

    A 2018 study found that hot summer months have a significant effect on the U.S. economy. “The data shows that annual growth falls 0.15 to 0.25 percentage points for every 1 degree Fahrenheit that a state’s average summer temperature was above normal,” researchers said.

    Moreover, the International Labour Organization (ILO) predicts that, by 2030, heat waves could reduce the number of hours worked by more than 2%, which is about 80 million full-time jobs and a cost of $2.4 trillion.

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    Jonathan Small

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