Yamaha's MOTOBOT Plans To Surpass Rossi?

The new Yamaha R1 is an incredibly powerful machine. Its litre engine can pump out nearly 200bhp, which allows the bike to race from 0-100km/h in just 2.7 seconds and reach speeds in excess of 300km/h. To put it simply, the new Yamaha R1 is a beast of a machine. The bike was developed using technology borrowed over from the MotoGP bike, and Valentino Rossi has said that the R1M is the closest a production model will ever get to being a full-fledged race prepped bike. So, obviously, it’s a bike for experienced riders.

However, to ride this powerful motorcycle, Yamaha recruited a rider who has never ever ridden anything before! This obviously sounds outrageous, but it’s about to sound downright blasphemous because the purpose of this ‘special’ rider is to ride the R1 faster than the legendary Valentino Rossi. Obviously it’s not possible for any human being who has never ridden before to just simply hop onto a 200bhp maniacal machine and beat the greatest rider of all time. But what if that rider was a robot?

Yes, Yamaha have a built a robot – the Motobot – whose sole purpose is to ride a motorcycle better than Mr Valentino Rossi. The robot, in a video message addressed to Rossi, says, “I am Motobot, and I was created to surpass you.” This ‘autonomous motorcycle-riding humanoid robot’ is mounted atop Yamaha’s flagship YZF-R1 motorcycle and looks very much like a professional MotoGP racer crouching low toward the handlebars to accelerate down a racetrack.

Motobot is capable of performing innumerable complex motions that, in general, humans can do far more easily than robots can. Yamaha believes that creating an autonomous robot capable of piloting a regular vehicle that has no modifications will help them improve their products and help develop “advanced rider safety systems.”

Whether or not the Motobot can prevail over legendary Valentino Rossi, however, remains to be seen…