Robotics
| Florida’s Homestead-Miami Speedway is gearing up for the competitors for the DARPA Robotics Challenge, where visions of a $2 million prize and international prestige dance in the heads of the machines’ creators. |
Christmas may be big on everyone's radar right now, but for robotics enthusiasts, this December 20th and 21st will be huge. On those days research teams from around the world will be competing in the trials of the DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC)—a mock-up of a disaster scenario prompted by Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear meltdown. The disaster, triggered by an earthquake and tsunami dramatically pointed to the need for advanced humanoid robotics.
Teams will be programming their emergency-response robots to perform eight basic tasks that were modeled from the Fukushima Daiichi response and then converted into standardized tests by researchers at the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).
A year later, the capabilities of robots that qualify in this year’s trials will be tested in a more realistic disaster scenario. In the winner-take-all finals, robots will perform all eight challenges consecutively.
The goal of the novel competition, according to DARPA, is to spur “cost-effective” hardware and software innovations that will enable future robots to perform the most hazardous activities during or in the aftermath of a disaster.
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“The DARPA Robotics Challenge is a great learning opportunity for the robotics community and a chance for NIST to demonstrate how standard performance tests help to inspire and guide innovation while measuring progress in a diverse, fast-moving area of technology,” says engineer Adam Jacoff, leader of the NIST testing program.
So far, more than 100 response robots, both experimental and commercial, have run the gauntlet of NIST test methods at Response Robot Evaluation Exercises and in support of robot procurements. Over the last few years, the suite of performance tests has been duplicated at sites around the United States and in Germany, Japan, and soon, Australia.
In the first two tasks during the December, 2013, trials at the Homestead Speedway in Florida, robot contestants will drive a utility vehicle through a slalom course, dismount, and traverse increasingly complex obstacles. Other tasks include removing debris from an entry, opening several doors, climbing a ladder, locating and closing valves, connecting a hose, and using tools to cut a hole through a wall. All tasks consist of three sub-tasks, with points awarded for each completed within a 30-minute time limit.
The event is open to the public and is expected to bring in large crowds. The event schedule is available from DARPA.
So instead of wrapping Christmas presents, the competitors and event organizers will be packing up robots and equipment, and heading to Florida.
SOURCE NIST
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