The Puma BeatBot Is the Ultimate Pacing Tool

Puma’s latest technology may just make Usain Bolt even faster.

The athletics company, in partnership with a NASA engineer and three MIT students, has created the ultimate pacing tool, called the BeatBot. The nondescript robot can be programmed to travel a specified distance at a certain pace, giving athletes a tangible way to see and reach a certain speed, pushing past personal bests in the process.

BeatBot uses infrared sensors to follow a path on a track, and maintains a set speed by monitoring how often the wheels rotate. It’s able to go as fast as Bolt’s foot speed record of 27.7 miles per hour, according to Engadget.

Unfortunately, the machine is currently only available to Puma’s sponsored elite athletes, but it’s already racked up an endorsement from Bolt himself. “I like this robot,” he laughs in a promotional video for BeatBot (below).

If it’s good enough for him, it’ll (someday, hopefully) be good enough for us.