The DARPA Robotics Challenge [Competitions]

ny news broadcast reveals that Mother Nature and human nature are not always on our side. Shifting demographics make society increasingly susceptible to both natural and man-made disasters. Densely populated coastal cities prone to flooding and bad weather invite heavy tolls from natural disasters. Manmade disasters come in many forms, such as chemical spills, weapons of mass destruction, release of radiation, and so on. Humanity must improve its defenses against such threats, i.e., we must prepare for the unexpected. During the Fukushima disaster, many Japanese citizens, aware of the development of humanoid robotic platforms, asked, “Can’t robots help us?” It turns out that they could not, at least not then. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Robotics Challenge (DRC) aims to work up to robots that can help in the near future. The DRC is a program in human-scaled robotics for disaster response. DARPA’s goal is to create robots that could interface with human environments, use human tools, and be commanded by humans without specialized training. We want robots that can adapt to assist in any disaster.