KAIST Hound runs a 100-meter sprint on an outdoor track at KAIST campus in Daejeon, Oct. 26. Courtesy of KAIST

Prof. Park Hae-won from KAIST's Dynamic Robot Control and Design Laboratory

Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) says its artificial intelligence (AI) robot has broken the 100-meter world record for a quadruped robot, citing Guinness World Records, Friday.

KAIST Hound, developed by the school's Dynamic Robot Control and Design Laboratory, recorded a time of 19.87 seconds at the institute's outdoor track in Daejeon, Oct. 26.

The robot made another record that could possibly become its second world record. Aiming to break the record in an indoor setting, Hound ran a treadmill and hit a maximum velocity of 6.5 meters per second. The figure beats Cheetah 2, developed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which recorded 6.4 seconds.

Prof. Park Hae-won, who oversaw Hound's development, has applied to Guinness World Records for the indoor record.

Hound developed the sprinting technique via reinforcement learning, a data-driven AI learning mechanism. Park's team programmed the self-learning system for Hound by inputting a maximum torque for its motor and a system for increasing velocity.

The team also worked on the motor to distribute its output evenly through the robot's legs to achieve a balanced, symmetrical four-legged movement. Hound's legs were specially designed with light-weight materials to lighten its overall weight.

"Hound has proven that Korea possesses globally undisputable technologies in robot hardware and robotic self-control AI," said Park, who specializes in the control and design of dynamic robot systems, legged locomotion robots and bio-inspired robots.

The Agency for Defense Development, under the country's Defense Acquisition Program Administration, supported the research on Hound by granting a fund in 2019 for the development of new defense technologies.