In December 2013 the yearly Darpa Robotics Challenge Trials was held at Florida’s Homestead Miami Speedway. This event provide an important baseline on the current state of robotics today and their potential for future use in disaster response.
The competing teams at DARPA, have to compete with robots that must be autonomous for individual tasks, for example finding and closing a valve. At the final finale, the communication speed has to be reduced further to encourage autonomous operation with the goal to see robots that act much faster.
The race in December 2013 was the last before the grand final to be decided between eight teams in December 2014. The winning team wins two million dollar in prize money. During two days there was a battle between robots from 16 teams along a kind of obstacle course in Florida.
Some of the teams have been funded by DARPA on the road. Seven of the sixteen teams had also been served with copies of the two-legged robot Atlas (the most widely used robot), developed by the company Boston Dynamics on behalf of DARPA. The other nine teams had developed their own robots. One of these, Japanese Schaft, finally won a clear victory with 27 out of a maximum 32 points. But the real winner could be said to be Google.
Googles Robot Venture
Google’s robot venture has received tremendous attention since it was unveiled in the New York Times recently that they have bought seven robotic companies during the past six months. In November 2013 Schaft was bought by Google, and in December, just before the competition, Google also bought Boston Dynamics Atlas and even made themselves known for their four-legged robots Packman and Cheetah/Wildcat. The purchase price is unknown.
Google’s investment in robots can be compared with the company’s projects with driverless cars. The project has its roots in an earlier Darpa competitions, DARPA Grand Challenge, which was just about driverless cars and was held three times – 2004, 2005 and 2007.
Andy Rubin – Head of Googles Robot Venture
Now in 2013 Google has taken one more step to reach a worldleading position in robotic science and development. For their robot venture they have chosen Andy Rubin as leader, former head of the development of the Android operating system, and with a clear passion for humanoid robots.
2014 will certainly become a very interesting year where Googles intentions will be more clear. They have always been a very technical oriented company and the investments is in line with their future ambition.
Take a look at this video, when Google becomes the king of robotics!
Picture and video source:
Introducing Wildcat, Boston Dynamics
http://www.theroboticschallenge.org/
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