Record-breaking

Creating systems that are energy autonomous is a key goal in the development of robotics, and this new walking prototype from Japan's Nagoya Institute of Technology (NIT) is a big step in the right direction. To some, calling this device a robot may be a bit of a stretch, especially since it lacks electricity, motors or computers of any kind, but its entry into the Guinness Book of Records last year shows it can certainly go the distance with its weight as the only motive force. Read More

Even though it's not called iPhone 5, Apple's latest version of its iconic smartphone - the iPhone 4S - is reportedly proving to be quite the hot potato with consumers. Apple says pre-orders topped a million in its first day, stomping all over the company's previous iPhone pre-order single-day record of 600,000 for the iPhone 4. Read More

Brigham Young University (BYU) students are celebrating after setting a new land speed record for an electric car in the “E1” (under 1,100 lbs/499 kg) class. The record of 155.8 mph (250.7 km/h) set by the “Electric Blue” streamliner at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah was averaged over the two required qualifying runs, one of which saw the car reach a speed of 175 mph (281.6 km/h). The record marks the end of a seven year quest by BYU students led by Perry Carter who, having just retired as an associate professor, gets to bow out on top. Read More

The CEO of Australia's Hahn Environmental Services, the largest producer of biodiesel in Queensland, has smashed the distance set by Guinness for the Longest Distance Traveled by Electric Bicycle in One Week. Riding a modified Stealth Bomber e-bike, which had its battery packs charged by a wind turbine sitting atop a Mini Moke running on green fuel, Allan Lear managed to pedal an amazing 1,629 km (1,012 miles) through Australia's outback - he is now waiting for the achievement to be verified by Guinness as a World Record. Read More

Toyota is continuing to make its mark at the Nürburgring Nordschleife circuit. Just over a week after its Toyota Motorsport GmbH division claimed the lap record for an electric vehicle at the circuit in the TMG EV PV001, its Lexus luxury vehicle division is claiming the even more illustrious lap record for a production car. The record run came in a Lexus LFA Nürburgring Edition driven by Japanese LFA race and test driver Akira Iida, who clocked a time of 7 minutes 14.64 seconds on the 22 km (13.7 mile) circuit to eclipse the previous record time of 7 minutes 18.1 seconds set in a Porsche 911 GT2 RS in April 2010. Read More

Toyota Motorsport GmbH (TMG) has knocked more than a minute off the lap record for an electric vehicle at the Nürburgring Nordschleife circuit. With a time of 7 minutes, 47.794 seconds, the TMG EV P001 beat the previous record of 9 minutes 1.338 seconds set by the Peugeot EX1 in April. TMG achieved its aim of becoming the first EV to break the eight-minute barrier on August 29 in fine weather with the track temperatures remaining relatively low. Read More

The “Schluckspecht E” electric vehicle built by a team at the University of Applied Sciences in Offenberg, Germany has broken the world record for the longest distance traveled on a single charge. The world record attempt was made at the Bosch test track in Boxberg with the vehicle traveling a total distance of 1631.5 km (1,013.76 miles), breaking the previous record of 1,003 km (623 miles) set by the Japan Electric Vehicle Club last year. Read More

Charlie Sheen it seems, does not do things by halves. Within a week of opening his Twitter account, he’s being followed by 2.2 million people and creating some serious personal "share of attention" in the entertainment world. He's poised to race past Time magazine, People, the New York Times and the NBA and Irish bookmakers are now taking bets on just how far Charlie's record-breaking following will grow. Amazingly, the oddson a range of special bets and achievements are quite short that Sheen will be close to the top 10 most powerful Twitter opinion makers in the world - perhaps even at number one. Read More

A television host and an engineer from Germany have completed an almost 5,000 km (3,107 mile) journey across Australia in their Wind Explorer, a lightweight electric vehicle powered by the wind – not only through electricity-generating wind turbines but also using kites. The pioneering 18-day trip by Dirk Gion and Stefan Simmerer set three world records – the first time a continent has been crossed be a wind-powered vehicle, the longest overall distance covered by an exclusively wind-powered land vehicle, and the longest distance covered by such a vehicle in 36 hours. Read More