Video: Yamaha's Motobot meets The Doctor

Yamaha Motor Corporation's unusual "Motobot" that debuted last year has been undergoing continual development since its inception. Yamaha's engineers haven't just stopped at getting the autonomous humanoid motorcycle-riding robot to ride a motorcycle by itself. The goal, according to Yamaha, "is to become capable of competing against Valentino Rossi’s lap times around a racetrack." Umm...what? Hold on there, Yamaha. Compete against The Doctor? On the racetrack? Maybe there's something contaminating the water over at Yamaha's Iwata factory in Japan that needs investigating?

Motobot earned the distinction of being the first robot to operate a motorcycle from the human standpoint—that is, utilizing its own awareness to operate the throttle, brakes, steering, clutch, and gearshifter to actually ride the motorcycle. Last year, Yamaha was happy to be able to get Motobot to ride in a straight line to a top speed of 100 kph, and then successfully negotiate a slalom course. Now, the company's stated goal in 2017 is to have Motobot "lap a racetrack at 200 kph or higher" in order to investigate "the requirements for riding that exceeds human capabilities." Eventually Yamaha engineers hope to utilize technology for position recognition (high-precision GPS, various sensors, etc.) and develop Motobot's learning capabilities to make its own decisions regarding the best lines to take around a racetrack and the limits of the motorcycle’s performance, so that it can improve its lap times with successive laps of the track.

Judging by Valentino Rossi's facial expression when informed of the challenge by Motobot by the Yamaha engineer, matching the superhuman capabilities of The Doctor when it comes to riding motorcycles is a tall order. Click on the play button above and see what you think...