Attention, BEAR, MABEL, and SAFFiR: You may be able to win your makers two million bucks! That’s the amount that DARPA is offering to the victorious team in its recently-announced Robotics Challenge. The winning robot will be the one that best meets a series of challenges, designed to test its ability to provide assistance in disaster scenarios.
The contest is open to anyone, be it robotics manufacturers, universities, or even basement tinkerers. In fact, DARPA (an agency of the U.S. Department of Defense) is encouraging the involvement of people not normally involved with robotics in order to bring fresh perspectives to the field. It is hoped that the event will foster innovations in both hardware and software.
“This challenge is going to test supervised autonomy in perception and decision-making, mounted and dismounted mobility, dexterity, strength and endurance in an environment designed for human use but degraded due to a disaster,” said DARPA program manager Gill Pratt. “Adaptability is also essential, because we don’t know where the next disaster will strike. The key to successfully completing this challenge requires adaptable robots with the ability to use available human tools, from hand tools to vehicles.”
Scheduled to start this October, the first phase of the contest will stretch over 15 months. This will be followed by a second phase, running throughout 2014. Both phases will culminate in a competition, at least one of which will likely require a single robot (per team) to carry out the following eight tasks:
- Drive a utility vehicle at the site – this will include getting in and out of an unmodified vehicle, along with steering, accelerating and braking on a moderately curving road (maximum speed will be 15 km/h, or 9.3 mph)
- Travel dismounted across rubble – after leaving the vehicle, robots will have to traverse a variety of terrains, along with avoiding insurmountable obstacles
- Remove debris blocking an entryway – that debris will likely be a solid object such as a rock or cinder block, not weighing more than 5 kg (11 lbs)
- Open a door and enter a building
- Climb an industrial ladder and traverse an industrial walkway
- Use a power tool to break through a concrete panel – the tool will probably be an air or electric impact hammer and chisel, or an electric reciprocating saw
- Locate and close a valve near a leaking pipe – there will be multiple pipes present, but the leaking one should be identifiable by its hissing sound and escaping smoke
- Replace a component such as a cooling pump – besides locating the pump, this will involve loosening one or more fasteners, extracting the faulty pump, then reversing the steps to replace it with another
Teams will have the option of competing using the GFE (Government Furnished Equipment) Platform, designed and built by DARPA. This will be based on Boston Dynamic’s bipedal ATLAS robot – which is itself derived from the company’s PETMAN – and will be a basic humanoid robotic platform including arms, legs, a torso, and head. Teams using a GFE will be free to modify its hardware and software as needed, and will be aided in that process with a computer test-bed known as the GFE Simulator.
That said, organizers have stated that the robots do not have to be humanoid in form ... although some of the tasks certainly suggest that humanoid robots might be particularly well-suited to the challenge.
Source: DARPA via IEEE Spectrum
Just think, after you build it and win it, you will end up having to make a million more of them, that are better, faster, heavily armed and armored - to defend against the fully weaponised ones they send against you.
'....along with avoiding insurmountable obstacles...' I guess insurmountable obstacles won't be so insurmountable after all? Or does all objects need to be mounted? Pffft....
This is a very dumb idea. Or should I say extremely premature? The tech to actually build something like this is way off. The first and biggest problem is powering such a device/robot/machine. Not going to happen. Also, why does it need to be able to drive? Self-driving car technology already exists and will hit mainstream in the next 10 years. I'm not saying it's going to take over or be big initially, but it will be at available at the consumer level.
This request basically is to build an almost fully operational human in robot form. Good luck....but don't be surprised when you fail miserable. Most of these pie in the sky projects fail miserably. It's good thought to push the envelope of technology, but I think this is a little ridiculous.
1) survey the area
2) establish the whereabouts of inhabitants
3) find Sarah Conner
"Failure" is only failure if you quit. Engineering, medicine and all other human endeavor is only advance by "failure" because that fosters inovation.
"Only the Unknowing can believe that Mankind's future is restricted to one small, overstrained planent in a Galaxy of plenty; The Meek shall inherit the Earth, the rest will inherit a Universe"-Unknown
And to all of you naysayers: Have you ever thought about, where the internet came from?
DARPA - is the one of the best things that has ever happened to America.
Remember the automobile is not cheap, yet we think it is worth spend such large amount of hard earn salary on it, because of how is saves time and gives us freedom to travel at will when we want to. I recon in time robots will be the next most important thing we will have in our homes for the same reasons above and more, such as, when we are disable or just old, it will carry out it tasks twenty four seven. That in its self will give another new life to us all when we enter that part of our life.
Yes, when I think of these things, it would be a wonderful thing to invest in one day. It would be to me what my car is to me now and would give me the freedom when old that I have now when middle age. Roll on with the R&D. I welcome it. Gerard.