4-legged Korean robot runs full marathon on single charge

KAIST developed RAIBO2, a four-legged robot that completed a full 42-kilometer marathon on a single battery charge in North Gyeongsang Province. It finished the Sangju Dried Persimmon Marathon in 4 hours, 19 minutes and 52 seconds, becoming the first quadruped to complete a full marathon without recharging. The feat was detailed in Nature and was described as the first time robotics research from Korea appeared on the journal’s main pages. Raion Robotics plans to mass-produce the platform for disaster recovery, security and industrial inspections.

RAIBO2 consumed roughly 1,280 watt-hours of electricity during the race.

Researchers said the robot could theoretically have reached a total range of 65 kilometers with the remaining reserve power.

The team was led by Hwangbo Je-min, a professor of mechanical engineering at KAIST.

The robot was an officially registered participant in the annual Sangju Dried Persimmon Marathon.

Raion Robotics is a commercial spin-off from Hwangbo’s university lab.

Published Sep 24, 2026 12:00 am KST

A research team, led by Professor Hwangbo Je-min of KAIST's Department of Mechanical Engineering, celebrates as the quadruped robot RAIBO2 completes the Sangju Dried Persimmon Marathon without recharging or swapping its battery, Nov. 17, 2024. Courtesy of Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology

In the world of legged robotics, endurance has long been the ultimate hurdle.

While four-legged machines can backflip, negotiate rubble and scale staircases with uncanny agility, their high-performance motors typically drain battery reserves in less than an hour. But along the rural stretches of North Gyeongsang Province, a dog-like machine spent over four hours trotting past orchards and cheering spectators to rewrite the limits of mechanical stamina.

Engineers at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) developed RAIBO2, a quadrupedal robot that completed a full 42-kilometer marathon on a single battery charge. The landmark feat, detailed this week in the flagship scientific journal Nature, marks the first time robotics research from Korea has graced the main pages of the prestigious publication, signaling a major leap forward for long-distance autonomous field machines.

The milestone unfolded during the annual Sangju Dried Persimmon Marathon — a local race named after the agricultural region’s famous fruit — where RAIBO2 lined up alongside human runners as an officially registered participant. Navigating asphalt roads, gentle inclines and changing temperatures, the machine finished the run at 4 hours, 19 minutes and 52 seconds, becoming the first quadruped in history to finish a full marathon course without a single recharge or battery swap.

Achieving that level of endurance required researchers to abandon the traditional approach of simply packing on heavier batteries. Instead, a research team led by Hwangbo Je-min, a professor of mechanical engineering at KAIST, treated long-distance mobility as a holistic engineering challenge. By co-designing the robot's physical limbs, internal power distribution systems and gait-control algorithms simultaneously, the team systematically tracked and eliminated microscopic energy leaks across every joint and circuit.

Throughout the race, researchers ran alongside the mechanical marathoner to document its progress and monitor a live telemetry stream tracking internal voltage, motor temperatures and real-time GPS coordinates. By the time RAIBO2 crossed the finish line, it had consumed roughly 1,280 watt-hours of electricity, leaving enough reserve power to theoretically stretch its total range to 65 kilometers.

The breakthrough arrives at a crucial moment for industrial automation, where limited battery life remains the primary bottleneck holding quadrupedal robots back from real-world adoption.

Raion Robotics, a commercial spin-off originating from Hwangbo’s university lab, is already moving to mass-produce the platform for real-world applications in disaster recovery, perimeter security, and hazardous industrial inspections.

"We will turn the world-class performance achieved in the lab into products that anyone can use reliably in industrial settings," Hwangbo said.

This article was published with the assistance of generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.

韩国科学技术院（KAIST）研发的四足机器人RAIBO2在庆尚北道完成了42公里马拉松全程，全程仅需一次充电。它以4小时19分52秒的成绩完成了尚州柿子干马拉松，成为首个无需充电即可完成全程马拉松的四足机器人。这一壮举被《自然》杂志详细报道，并被誉为韩国机器人研究首次登上该杂志首页。Raion Robotics公司计划将该平台量产，用于灾后救援、安保和工业检测等领域。

RAIBO2 在比赛期间大约消耗了 1280 瓦时的电力。

研究人员表示，理论上，凭借剩余的储备电量，该机器人可以达到 65 公里的总行程。

该团队由韩国科学技术院（KAIST）机械工程系教授黄普济民（Hwangbo Je-min）领导。

该机器人是桑州柿饼马拉松大赛的正式注册参赛者。

Raion Robotics 是黄波大学实验室的商业衍生公司。

发布于2026年9月24日凌晨12:00（韩国标准时间）

2024年11月17日，由韩国科学技术院（KAIST）机械工程系黄甫济民教授领导的研究团队庆祝四足机器人RAIBO2在不充电或更换电池的情况下完成了尚州柿饼马拉松比赛。图片由韩国科学技术院提供。

在腿式机器人领域，耐力一直是最大的挑战。

虽然四足机器可以后空翻、穿越瓦砾、以惊人的敏捷性攀爬楼梯，但它们的高性能电机通常会在不到一小时内耗尽电池电量。然而，在庆尚北道的乡村地带，一台形似犬类的机器却连续四个多小时在果园中穿行，并赢得观众的欢呼，从而刷新了机械耐力的极限。

韩国科学技术院（KAIST）的工程师们研发出RAIBO2，这是一款四足机器人，仅凭一次充电就完成了42公里的马拉松全程。这项里程碑式的成就本周发表在权威科学期刊《自然》上，标志着韩国的机器人研究首次登上该期刊的头版，也预示着长距离自主作业机器人技术向前迈出了重要一步。

这一里程碑式的成就诞生于一年一度的尚州柿子干马拉松赛——这项以当地著名水果命名的赛事——RAIBO2作为正式注册的参赛者与人类跑者一同起跑。在柏油路、缓坡和气温变化的挑战下，这台机器最终以4小时19分52秒的成绩完成了比赛，成为历史上首个无需充电或更换电池即可跑完全程马拉松的四足机器人。

为了达到如此高的续航能力，研究人员放弃了传统的增加电池重量的方法。由韩国科学技术院（KAIST）机械工程教授黄普济民（Hwangbo Je-min）领导的研究团队，将长距离移动视为一项整体工程挑战。通过同时设计机器人的物理肢体、内部配电系统和步态控制算法，该团队系统地追踪并消除了每个关节和电路中微小的能量泄漏。

比赛全程，研究人员与这辆机械马拉松选手并肩奔跑，记录其赛程，并实时监测其内部电压、电机温度和GPS坐标等遥测数据。当RAIBO2冲过终点线时，它消耗了约1280瓦时的电量，剩余电量足以使其理论上的续航里程达到65公里。

这一突破正值工业自动化发展的关键时刻，因为电池续航时间有限仍然是四足机器人无法在现实世界中得到广泛应用的主要瓶颈。

Raion Robotics 是黄波大学实验室衍生出的商业公司，目前正着手大规模生产该平台，用于灾难恢复、周界安全和危险工业检查等实际应用。

“我们将把在实验室中取得的世界一流性能转化为任何人都能在工业环境中可靠使用的产品，”黄波说。

本文由生成式人工智能协助发布，并由《韩国时报》编辑。