The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) established their "Robotics Challenge" in 2012, and it has drawn participants from all over the world. Competing for the $2 million grand prize, this year's final competition will involve 11 teams from different schools and agencies.
The 11 teams from the Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Virginia Tech, and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory will compete from June 5-6 in 2015 in Pomona, California for the honors. This competition of robot systems and software teams was created to develop robots that are capable of assisting humans in responding to natural and man-made disasters.
The Department of Defense developed a strategic plan that called for the Joint Force (DoD and DARPA) to conduct humanitarian, disaster relief, and other related operations due to the frequency of serious weather events in recent years. The primary goal of the plan, implemented through the Robotics Challenge, is to develop ground robots that are capable of executing complex tasks in dangerous, degraded, human-engineered environments.
"It is very dangerous for people to go in and do search and rescue after a big disaster," said Taskin Padir, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute, in this ComputerWorld.com article. "We should be ready and responsive with technology that can help people who need it... As a community, we're one step closer to helping advance rescue robots."
The final competition will require the robots of the 11 teams to attempt a circuit of consecutive physical tasks with degraded communications between the robots and their operators. The winner (and other successful technologies) could transform the world of robotics and achieve the goal of the Department of Defense. DARPA will select the series of challenge tasks for the robots.
Additionally, during the finals, the participants' robots cannot be tethered and will not be connected to power cords or any other wired communications. If a robot falls, it will be required to get back up on its own. This culmination of the three-part challenge is expected to make history in the world of robotics and disaster relief.
In the next 11 months leading up to the competition, DARPA believes more teams will join the competition. This could interest Google, who purchased eight robotics companies within the last year.
You can read more about DARPA's Robotics Challenge here.
