Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – @BednarChuck
A South Korean-developed humanoid robot that can both walk like a biped and zip around on wheels built into its knees has been named the winner of the 2015 Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Robotics Challenge.
According to VentureBeat and Ars Technica, the 5-foot, 9-inch tall, 176-pound robot named HUBO was developed by engineers at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST). HUBO completed the challenge in a time of 44 minutes and 28 seconds.
The KAIST team was awarded $2 million for their victory in the competition. IHMC Robotics used the Boston Dynamics-developed Atlas robot, taking second place and winning $1 million. The Tartan Rescue team from Carnegie Mellon University, who according to The Verge had the top score at the end of the competition’s first day, wound up finishing in third place.
Competition inspired by the 2011 Fukushima accident
The DARPA Robotics Challenge was initially launched in response to the 2011 accident at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan, which caused damage to several reactors at the facility and required repairs to prevent the spread of radiation. The program was designed to accelerate the development of robots that could respond to similar disasters in unsafe conditions.
At the time of the incident, officials had pondered the idea of using robots to complete repairs at the power plant, but Ars Technica explained that none were capable of navigating the terrain and performing the required tasks. Thus, DARPA decided to launch a competition in which teams of engineers would develop machines that could perform several of these required tasks.
Some of the tasks that the robots were asked to perform as part of the challenge included driving a vehicle, dismounting and opening a door, using power tools to cut a hole through a wall, trip a circuit breaker, and operating a fire hose by connecting it to a port and turning it on using a valve. They had to complete a total of eight different tasks in less than one hour.
Nearly two-dozen teams, including 12 from the US and others hailing from Japan, Italy, Hong Kong, and Germany, took part in the two-day finals in Pomona, California. Team KAST completed the obstacle course in less than 45 minutes, while the IHMC Robotics team finished in slightly less than 50 minutes, and the CMU squad put up a time of 55:15.
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