Evolta’s Challenge 2011: The Hawaii Ironman Triathlon

Panasonic has recently announced the new challenge for its batteries’ mascot Evolta robot. This is the fourth challenge for the small robot. The first took place in 2008, when the robot climbed a 530-meters high cliff in Grand Canyon. In 2009, it ran the LeMans Circuit in France during 24 hours, and in 2010, it walked throughout the Tokaido road in 49 days. This year, Evolta will race the Hawaii Ironman Triathlon.

The Ironman Triathlon, held in Hawaii, is one of a series of long-distance triathlon races organized by the World Triathlon Corporation (WTC). The competition consists of three events: a 3.8Km (2.4 mile) swim, 180.2Km (112 mile) bike, and 42.2Km (26.6 miles) marathon. The competition has a strict time limit of 17 hours, and there is no break for competitors. Due to Evolta is roughly 10 times smaller than an average person, this challenge will last 10 times more, about 168 hours (1 week) to complete the 230Km of challenge. Evolta will work 24 hours, day and night, and it won’t stop except for charging time.   

To accomplish this challenge, three different models have been built. Each robot has been adapted for each competition. According with Tomotaka Takahashi, the creator of Evolta robot, “the biggest hurdle is the swim. They’ll be swimming in the sea. There are huge waves, tides, and wind on the Ocean’s surface”. Also he had to consider that the robot had to be water proof, and for all of them the battery consumption and efficiency was a key point in the design, because they can only use three batteries.

Finally, the swimming robot has been attached to some kind of fin and it will use its arms to thrust itself. For the bike competition he designed a robot similar to the three-wheel one used for the Le Mans challenge, and for the last competition he built a robot placed inside a wheel very alike to the one used for the Tokaido road challenge with the difference that this new model won’t pull a cart.

The Evolta’s challenge will start on October 23, in Hawaii, a couple of days after the World Ironman Championship. If you want to know the latest news about this challenge you can visit the Evolta web page or its twitter. Here is the official video of Panasonic about the challenge:

Images property of Panasonic. If you want to see more, check:

• EVOLTA World Challenge IV Tackles Hawaii Triathlon