Valentino Rossi VS Yamaha Motobot: the Doctor wins the challenge on R1M [VIDEO]

The confrontation between man and machine, which has stimulated and continues to fuel the imagination of the most famous writers and filmmakers over the last two centuries, takes shape in reality on the hot asphalt of Thunderhill Raceway Parkin California. Valentino Rossi, the nine-time world champion and driver of Yamaha , is the excellent antagonist of a robotic creature made by the same Japanese brand, called Motobots.

An electromechanical concept, half motorbike and half robot. The autonomous YamahaR1M speeds across the Californian surface, trying to beat the best lap time set by the champion Tavullia. The result, however, is resoundingly in favor of the Pesaro native, capable of imposing a margin of well over thirty seconds on the robotic challenger. Although at the end of the video and this curious challenge, a couple of years after the start of the project, a message appears that anticipates a possible revenge or in any case still leaves the comparison open in light of the result.

Despite the wide margin, the Yamaha Motobot he showed refined cycling skills and still completed the test without problems. The profound limits, especially dynamic, that separate the machine from man are probably still influencing the outcome. Relying on his experience, the Doctor not only boasts great talent, but also very high athletic qualities. He can direct the bike optimally on each curve, describing ideal trajectories at each step which allow him to reduce the value on the stopwatch, distributing his weight accordingly according to the speed. Motobots, however, apart from the speed of the various sensors, is characterized by a rigid and fixed structure, which draws an android sitting on the motorbike. An aspect that, especially when cornering, would still have a certain influence on performance.

Video: Yamaha