DARPA, the agency of the U.S. Department of Defense responsible for the development of technologies that the military can use, sponsored the DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC), the Superbowl of robotics that aims to find a robot that can be used in emergency situations.
The contest at the Fairplex in Pomona, California was joined by competitors from all over the world.
The team from KAIST, formerly the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, in Daejeon, South Korea, which built and piloted the humanoid robot DRC-Hubo won the $2 million grand prize after outperforming 22 other participants.
HUBO, which has been in development since 2002, has capabilities for bipedal walking, control algorithm and manipulation. The latest version now has more powerful joint motors and hands that can handle different tasks in disaster situations. The robot can also transform from standing position to a kneeling pose intended for fast and wheeled motion.
Team IHMC Robotics, from Pensacola, Fla., which worked with Running Man, came in second and took home a $1 million check. Formerly called Atlas, Running Man has self-contained power, cooling, computing and is equipped for wireless communication.
Team Tartan Rescue, from western Pennsylvania, took the third place and the $500,000 prize for its red robot CHIMP. The robot was designed to work in dangerous and degraded environments that were meant for people and not robots. With its near-human form factor, precision, strength and ability, the robot is able to perform complex and human-level tasks in these kinds of setting.
The three winning teams were able to finish the eight-task challenge consist of the robots opening a door, clearing or navigating rubble, driving and getting out of a car, breaching a wall, climbing stairs, closing a valve and replugging a big black plug.
The organizers congratulated the participants for taking part in the challenge, saying that DRC is only the beginning of a future where people and humans work together to reduce the toll of disasters.
The competition's main objective of inspiring the development of robots for disaster relief operation was prompted by nuclear disaster that happened in Fukushima, Japan three years ago.
After the earthquake and tsunami, employees at the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear power plant needed to open valves in order to release steam and prevent explosion. They were not fast enough and close enough though because of the amount of radiation. Had there been robots available at that time to perform these tasks, the disaster could have been mitigated.
"This is the end of the DARPA Robotics Challenge but only the beginning of a future in which robots can work alongside people to reduce the toll of disasters," said DARPA Director Arati Prabhakar.
