White Rhino (robosobaka)

2025: 100m record

The four-legged White Rhino robot, developed by Zhejiang University, set a new Guinness World Record in the 100-meter sprint discipline among robots, covering the distance in 16.33 seconds. The result surpassed the previous achievement of the South Korean robot Hound, which showed a time of 19.87 seconds, improving the record by more than three seconds. This was announced on August 13, 2025 by Zhejiang University.

According to China Daily, the record run took place at a test site in Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang province. The achievement was officially registered by the Guinness Book of Records organization as the new world standard for four-legged robots in the sprint discipline over a hundred-meter distance.

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Фото: guinnessworldrecords.com

The White Rhino robot was created by the joint efforts of the Center for X-Mechanics of the University, the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics, as well as the Hangzhou Center for Global Scientific and Technological Innovations. The project brought together specialists from various fields to achieve maximum efficiency in the design and software of the robot.

Project manager Professor Wang Huntao noted the complexity of the task. According to him, the hundred-meter distance checks not only the explosive force and speed of the robot, but also its stability, as well as the accuracy of control when performing fast movements. The professor stressed that the achievement makes it possible to understand the correctness of the direction of research.

A key technological breakthrough was the complex optimization technique known as "direct robot design." Unlike the traditional approach with sequential refinements of the finished design, the new method involves a priori modeling the dynamics of each joint and drive in different conditions.^[1]

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