Something remarkable is happening in Building 9 here at the Fairplex in Pomona, Calif. Imagine a long, giant warehouse-like building divided into 24 bays, within which people from around the world are unpacking their robots and preparing them for the DRC Finals. Imagine lids being pried off the tops of reinforced wooden crates, foam padding and stuffing peanuts being brushed aside, and then slowly-with the help of gantries and winches-metallic creatures rising from their shipping crypts like mummies exhumed not from the past but from a future.
The DARPA Robotics Challenge Finals will showcase 24 teams from around the world demonstrating the ability of their robots to conduct key relief tasks in a simulated disaster setting. At stake: $3.5 million in prizes, and the chance to help bring this fledgling engineering discipline to maturity. A technology Exposition, co-located with the Finals event, will show viewers state-of-the-art robotics technology through more than 70 exhibits and interactive demonstrations by robotics companies, STEM organizations, first responders and competing DRC teams.
Listen to DARPA Program Manager discuss robots, the DARPA Robotics Challenge event, the trials creating robots to maneuvering through unknown environment and more on TECHSTUFF.