Atlas: DARPA
Atlas: DARPA
Robotics
humanoid, robot, Boston, Carnegie, robotics, NASA
2013
Boston, Massachusettes
DARPA, or Defense Advanced Research Project Agency, is an organization working to advance the potential of robotics in real world situations. The DARPA Robotics Challenge is an annual competition, which last year hosted 8 competing teams working to create an intelligent robot whos skills would be used in recovery efforts in natural or man-made disasters.
Each team was equipped in the fall with Atlas, the brain of the robot, and was given the task of programming it to achieve maximum success in disaster situations including vehicular movment, managing terrain, climbing ladders, cleaning debris, getting through doors and walls, opening valves, and operating a hose.
Winning the challenge in 2013 was a team called Schaft. Instead of using the body of the robot given to them, they used an exisiting body that they had previous developed. The two-legged, two-armed humanoid scored 27 out of a possible 32 points in the challenge, outscoring the runner up by 7.
IHMC Robotics used a robot created by Petman, equipped with two arms and legs as well, but a more defined head and more human-like body than the Schaft robot. It uses 28 hydraulically actuated joints.
team IHMC, second place team SCHAFT, first place
Original sources:
http://www.theroboticschallenge.org/
http://www.darpa.mil/NewsEvents/Releases/2013/07/11.aspx
