This Chinese robot just walked his way into record books and into your heart

Oftentimes, we’ll see robots that set off alarm bells about the indefatigable automatons coming for you, step by step by step by step. But this ‘lil guy is not the face of the robot apocalypse.

NBC News reports a Chinese-built robot has set a new record for longest distance covered by a quadruped robot by walking about 83 miles, non-stop. Xingzhe No. 1, which means “walker” in Chinese, was a research project from Chongqing University of Post and Telecommunication looking into improving robot durability and efficiency.

The robot performed its record-breaking saunter with 1,405 laps around an indoor gymnasium over the course of three days, all on a single battery charge. That beats the previous record, held by Cornell University’s Ranger, of about 40.5 miles.

News about robots in recent years can sometimes seem frightening or intimidating. Whether they’re causing (or preventing) car accidents, coiling into serpentine shapes to reach inside our cars, or just smiling at us with creepy, uncanny valley grins, it can feel like we’re on the brink of a robot revolution that will not end in our favor.

But something about the way Xingzhe wobbily advances forward, step-by-step is disarming. It’s cute and earnest without trying to be; less robot snake and more like hitchBOT.

In other words: It’s just a matter of time before it’s lying in pieces on a Philadelphia sidewalk.