DARPA Building Robot Army

Think you could build a robot soldier? Well, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is looking for robots. And it’s willing to pay. The DARPA Robotics Challenge program is about to launch, with a goal of developing ground robotic capabilities to execute complex tasks in dangerous, degraded, human-engineered environments. Specifically, the program will focus on robots that can utilize available human tools, ranging from hand tools to vehicles. The program aims to advance the key robotic technologies of supervised autonomy, mounted mobility, dismounted mobility, dexterity, strength, and platform endurance. Supervised autonomy will be developed to allow robot control by non-expert operators, to lower operator workload, and to allow effective operation despite low fidelity (low bandwidth, high latency, intermittent) communications. The Department of Defense strategic plan calls for the Joint Force to conduct humanitarian, disaster relief, and other operations. The strategic plan identifies needs for extending aid to victims of natural or man-made disasters and for conducting evacuation operations. The DARPA Robotics Challenge program will help directly meet these needs by developing robotic technology for disaster response operations. This technology will improve the performance of robots that operate in the rough terrain and austere conditions characteristic of disasters, and use vehicles and tools commonly available in populated areas. This technology will also work in ways easily understood by subject matter experts untrained in the operation of robots, and be governed by intuitive controls that require little training. The program will also help meet the global need for resilience against natural disasters and industrial accidents (the Fukushima nuclear accident being a recent exemplar of both), and increase the resilience of infrastructure against acts of terrorism. The DARPA Robotics Challenge will consist of three key events – a Virtual Disaster Challenge, and two (2) Disaster Response Challenges. In the DARPA Robotics Challenge, robots will compete with each other performing disaster response operations in representative scenarios that will likely include the following sequence of events: 1. Drive a utility vehicle at the site. 2. Travel dismounted across rubble. 3. Remove debris blocking an entryway. 4. Open a door and enter a building. 5. Climb an industrial ladder and traverse an industrial walkway. 6. Use a tool to break through a concrete panel. 7. Locate and close a valve near a leaking pipe. 8. Replace a component such as a cooling pump. These are representative tasks and will likely be updated based on detailed future planning that will take into account safety, cost, performance, operational capabilities and needs. DARPA will adjust the difficulty of the scenario as the program progresses, depending on capabilities demonstrated and practical considerations. DARPA will also intentionally vary DARPA details of the scenario to encourage generality and discourage tuning or optimization of parameters for a small range of conditions. The program has planned the following funding for teams. This plan is subject to change depending on the number of qualified teams and available resources. Phase 1 Track A: Up to $3M for each team, with up to five (5) teams Track B first nine (9) months through the Virtual Disaster Response Challenge: Up to $375k for each team, with up to twelve (12) teams Track B/Track C last six (6) months after the Virtual Disaster Response Challenge: Up to $750k additional for each team, with up to six (6) teams Phase 2 Up to $1M for up to eight (8) of the top performing teams from the first physical disaster challenge Prize: Anticipated to be $2M to a single team Inventors: get started!

DARPA Building Robot Army

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DARPA Building Robot Army

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