CHIMP had problems unplugging and plugging in an electrical cord, cutting a hole in a wall and getting out of a vehicle. But Carnegie Mellon University’s disaster-response robot still placed third and won $500,000 among a field of 24 robots Friday and Saturday during the DARPA Robotics Challenge.
CHIMP and CMU’s Tartan Rescue at the National Robotics Engineering Institute in Lawrenceville completed all eight tasks at a mock disaster site in 55 minutes, 15 seconds. The competition held in Pomona, Calif., was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Defense’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
KAIST, an institute in Daejeon, South Korea, finished first and won $2 million after its humanoid robot completed the course in 44 minutes, 28 seconds. Team IHMC Robotics from the Institute of Human and Machine Cognition in Pensacola, Fla., claimed the $1 million second prize with a humanoid robot that completed the course in 50 minutes, 26 seconds.
“We’re pleased,” said Tony Stentz, the Tartan Rescue Team leader who is a CMU Robotics Institute professor of research. “The teams here were very good, and we feel finishing third with this field of competitors is quite an accomplishment. After the first day, we posted the best score. But the second day, those two teams were likely to put up the best scores, and they did.”
CMU defeated the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Lockhead Martin, and technology universities from Japan, Hong Kong, Germany and South Korea. CMU and Worcester Polytechnic Institute of Worcester, Mass., also fielded a robot that finished in seventh place, completing seven tasks in just over 56 minutes.
DARPA sponsored the challenge following the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power-plant crisis to spur development of robots able to respond to man-made or natural disasters that pose risks too dangerous for humans.
CHIMP, at 443 pounds and about 5 feet tall, uses tank-like treads to move on two or four limbs, with the upper limbs also having hands. The competition required robots to climb steps, operate vehicles, use power tools and turn valves. While less weight and more sensors could have helped CHIMP complete tasks more quickly, Mr. Stentz said, “There’s great promise for this technology.”
David Templeton: dtempleton@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1578.
First Published: June 7, 2015, 4:26 p.m.
Updated: June 8, 2015, 2:22 a.m.
