Funds are being raised over at Kickstarter page for OutRunner, a six-legged running robot that can run on nearly any type of terrain.
The said robot was created and developed in Pensacola, Florida by Robotics Unlimited, an engineering firm that is an offshoot of the Institute for Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC) in Florida spearheaded by Sebastien Cotton, Ph.D, a research scientist. The IHMC is composed of scientists and engineers geared toward the development of running and walking robots.
"The whole robotic world is really closed off right now. If you're not an engineer with a Ph.D., well, you won't be able to play with robots. I want to change that, so I started my company to commercialize robots,” says Cotton, who is founder and CEO of Robotics Unlimited.
Over at Kickstarter, OutRunner is described the “world's first remotely controlled robot running up to 20 mph on various terrain with up to 2 hours of battery life,” and yes, it can even outrun an average human. The firm claims this robot has exceptional capabilities that are beating up the competition, mainly because it is said to be the only robot having such capabilities while at the same time fun and easy to play along with.
OutRunner has two versions: OutRunner Core and OutRunner Performance. The Core version is aimed at those who want to tinker and play with a robot. Performance, as its name suggests, is the more powerful version that comes with advanced sensors and is best suited for friendly races.
According to Cotton, they have been at work in developing OutRunner for almost a year now, which they believe has a lot of uses.
"First, for people who love to build and take apart things, it's perfect because OutRunner is completely upgradable. It also can be educational because it's very fun for kids to play with and easy to use. We want people to be able to play with real robots without having to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars," Cotton explains.
As of this writing, the team is still short of its goal with only $47,773 pledged, 184 backers and 11 days left more to go. The initial goal is to raise a minimum of $150,000 that will be used to complete the design and produce the first OutRunner units for its backers. The company, however, writes that its goal can stretch up to $1.5 million for its turbo upgrade.
OutRunner’s project timeline shows that the company plans to manufacture and ship the rewards starting July 2014 and to manufacture and ship the Rush edition by October and December, respectively. Early 2015 is the target year for large-scale manufacturing. The Core version will be sold starting at $299, and the Performance version at $799.
Here's an official video of OutRunner from the Robotics Unlimited website:
