Overview
- RAIBO2 ran the full Sangju Marathon distance of 42.195 km in 4:19:52 on one battery, a trial the team reports took place in November 2024 and was published in Nature.
- The robot used 1,280 watt‑hours from a 1,930 Wh pack and the team estimates it could likely have run roughly 25 km more on that charge.
- KAIST measured an average locomotion cost of 0.25 J/m/kg, lower than the cited human value of 0.37 J/m/kg, achieved by making the legs very light, using more efficient power electronics, and training gait patterns with machine learning.
- The marathon course included mixed surfaces, slopes up to 18.4° and 286 m of elevation change, showing the design delivered endurance outside lab conditions though RAIBO2 was teleoperated during the run.
- Researchers say the range and efficiency gains point to new field roles such as patrol, delivery and mountain or disaster rescue, but practical deployment will require autonomous perception, route planning and energy‑aware decision making.