AWC Pictures

The New Evolta robot, powered by Panasonic’s Evolta batteries, the world’s longest-lasting AA alkaline battery cells, is shown during a news conference in Tokyo, Japan. The Evolta robot will attempt to cycle the same racing course the 24 Hours of Le Mans uses in France next month.

Panasonic Corp. hopes the “Evolta” robot will circle the track for 24 hours, the same length of time as the famous Le Mans endurance race—and setting a new Guinness Book of World Records mark for longest distance traveled by a remote-controlled robotic vehicle.

“It’s quite difficult. It’s 24 hours and that’s hard for the battery and also hard for the robot itself,” said Tomotaka Takahashi, who created the robot.

“It’s almost impossible to expect 24 hours of nice, calm weather. There could be a shower or wind. We found a lot of insects coming in front of the headlights, so they could be another problem.”

To navigate around the track the robot will follow an infrared beam emitted by a buggy that will travel in front of it through the 24 hour period.

The Le Mans circuit is just over 4km long and the robot’s speed should average about 1.3km per hour. That means it should manage about 6 laps of the circuit in the time allowed.

The stunt follows a challenge last year that had a version of the robot climb a rope strung from the bottom to the top of The Grand Canyon. It accomplished the task in just under 7 hours.

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