DARPA seeks more lifelike Humanoid Robots in upcoming grand challenge
Baku, April 10 (AZERTAC). The Defense Advance Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is now looking for more lifelike humanoid robots to add to the military`s arsenal, which already has some quite creepy devices in the work including the SAFFiR robot, the jumping “sand flea” robot and an unbelievably fast legged robot. DARPA`s next contest will task robotics specialists around the globe with the behemoth challenge of creating robots capable of navigating their surroundings and even handle tools with skills and dexterity near that of a human. One must expect that DARPA will have high standards this year given the recent leaps forward the military has made when it comes to robotics. DARPA - the Pentagon`s mad scientist research arm - is expected to announce their new contest in the next few weeks. They are expected to ask engineers and designers to create a bipedal (two-legged) robot capable of a wide variety of tasks ranging from opening doors to driving cars, crossing rough terrain and conducting industrial repair activities. The theme of DARPA`s upcoming Grand Challenge was leaked to the robotics-focused website Hizook, and later confirmed by Kent Massey.
“The goal of this Grand Challenge is to create a humanoid robot that can operate in an environment built for people and use tools made for people,” said Massey in an email to Hizook. “The specific challenge is built around an industrial disaster response.” Massey is the director of advanced programs at HDT Robotics and he reportedly attended a recent speech during which the Grand Challenge was outlined. The focus of industrial disaster response seems similar to other military robotics project like SAFFiR, which is designed to assist firefighting efforts on submarines and other naval vessels.
In recent years, DARPA has put a larger focus on these Grand Challenges, with the earlier initiatives focusing on self-driving cars. These efforts helped push forward the development of autonomous vehicles considerably, changing the notion of self-driving vehicles from science fiction to reality.
Back in 2004, DARPA began their first Grand Challenge, worth $1 million, which asked researchers to create autonomous vehicles able to travel off-road, although not a single car was able to travel over eight miles on the course. It is worth pointing out that this newest challenge will open up greater opportunities to much smaller (perhaps even amateur) operations, whereas building a robot car would require resources only available to institutions like Stanford and Carnegie Mellon.
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