June 7, 2015Robots square off at the 2015 DRC Finals

Rescue Tartan working valve (Credit: David Szondy/Gizmag)

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A sporting event where a contestant opens a door, promptly falls on their face, and then stands up again sounds like less than riveting, but on Friday some 10,000 people at the Fairplex in Pomona, California, cheered and screamed encouragement as exactly that happened. Of course, the fact that the contender was a robot called Tartan Rescue and the competition was the first day of the DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC) Final 2015 had something to do with it. Aimed at creating robots that may one day help responders during major disasters, the two-day Challenge is host to 23 international teams competing for US$3.5 million in prizes.

The severity of the aftermath that hindered responders following the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011 was the inspiration for the Robotics Challenge. DRC program manager Gill Pratt compares the event to the British government's longitude competitions that spurred the development of the chronometer, or the 1795 challenge set by Bonaparte that led to the invention of tinned food. Its purpose is to explore what's possible for robots operating in human environments, create more advanced ways for humans and robots to communicate, and to encourage communication and collaboration among roboticists.

The 2015 Challenge involves eight tasks that simulate an industrial plant struck by a disaster. Each robot must drive a small car, get out, open a door and pass through, close a valve, cut a hole in the wall with a drill, either climb over debris or clear a path, and climb a flight of stairs. In addition, the robot also has to carry out a surprise task. On day one, this was flipping a switch off.

To make things even harder, exact information was kept from the teams about the course and the tasks, so they couldn't preprogram the robots. Teams were also were restricted to one hour to carry out all eight tasks, the robots had to rely solely on internal power, and if the robot fell down, it had to get up on its own or suffer a time penalty. Just to keep things interesting, the control teams were housed in a separate location and the wireless communications link was deliberately degraded and periodically interrupted.

Friday's competition was open to the public as part of DARPA's acknowledgement of the interest it has generated. Livestreaming of the event is also available for those unable to attend.

Three teams competed in each heat simultaneously with the action visible on giant television screens. Scoring was based on completing the task and the time needed with the best of two attempts.

Rescue Tartan getting back up after falling over

As the Pratt describes it, the DRC Final is more like golf than horse racing – things move slowly, then something happens and everybody applauds. The atmosphere is generally one of tension rather than excitement as people stand and lean forward in anticipation of the next occurrence. Will the robot get out of the car it just drove? Will it open the door? Or will it fall over? If so, will it get back up on its own.

It's also a competition marked by starts and stops as the machines carry out a task, then stop to make sure they were stable, or await a new command, or autonomously solve a problem. There's certainly something ironic about watching thousands of people watching three hundredweight of circuitry and metal trying to sort out a doorknob.

Meanwhile, the teams that built and programmed the robots stand by in safety vests and plastic helmets; hovering over their charges. Their job is to be on hand if the robot falls and can't get up under its own power. In that event, they reset the robot to a task's starting line to simulate a second robot going in to replace the the first. This means the robot has to do the task over and suffer a ten minute penalty.

The racetrack that hosts the DRC Finals is adequate to hold the crowd, though the sightlines are less than ideal. Behind the courses are banks of giant televisions powered by the constantly thrumming dynamo vans in the back. These screens are necessary not only to follow the action as it unfolds on separate stages, but also to see details, such as a claw moving a switch or picking up an electric drill. Along with the webcasting, this means that the DARPA camera crews are so numerous that they sometimes seem to outnumber the media. all of which makes live viewing a bit of a challenge itself.

One thing that marked Friday's events was the conservative nature of the competition as the teams developed their strategies and looked to ensure their robots remained intact. Most avoided actually letting their robots fall until the competition started, so there was still a bit of a learning curve and none were keen on being knocked out of the running on the first day.

However, the day wasn't without its moments of drama. Team Aero had a setback as its four-legged humanoid robot had trouble with the sand while walking on the driving course and fell over after getting repeatedly stuck. Later on, the spider-like Robosimian from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory ended an otherwise impressive run when it baulked at a flight of stairs.

Running Man was a crowd favorite as it dismounted with relative ease from its car, and one unfortunate Atlas robot couldn't get the door open as it whacked repeatedly at the handle with its claw.

In addition, there was an off the field incident that put a spanner in the works. During the second set of runs that morning, communications between the teams and the robots went down completely for 15 minutes. Pratt later explained that this happened when a circuit overloaded and it needed to be rebooted. Afterwards, the tasks were restarted and time credited.

At a media briefing at the end of the day, Pratt shared his observations about Friday's competition. He noted that the proceedings demonstrated the importance of robot autonomy in aiding human interaction with machines, as well as how simulation software speeds communications. As for robot design, he believes that the jury still out on humanoid versus non-humanoid robots. Humanoid robots brought speed, but lacked stability in certain tasks, while non-humanoids were more stable, but often had trouble with environments designed for humans.

At the end of the day, Tartan Rescue took first place with a score of 8 points and a time of 55:15. Nimbro Rescue came in second with 7 points and 34:00, while Team Robosimian brought in third with 7 points and 47:50 on the clock.

Stay tuned for the results of the second and final day.

For more information, visit the DRC Finals site.

機器人已經為2015 DRC總決賽做好準備

Robots方休在2015年剛果（金）Finals

救援格子呢工作閥（圖片提供：大衛Szondy

Gizmag）

圖片廊（30幅）

其中一位選手打開一扇門體育賽事，及時落在自己的臉上，然後站起來，再次聽起來像小於鉚接，但上周五約10,000人，在Fairplex波莫納，加利福尼亞州，歡呼和尖叫鼓勵，因為正是這樣發生了。當然，事實是，競爭者是一個叫格子呢救援機器人和競爭是DARPA的機器人挑戰賽（金）最終2015年的第一天，有一些東西需要用它做。旨在創造機器人，在重大災害可能有一天幫助響應，在為期兩天的挑戰是主人對23個國際團隊為美國競爭$ 350萬美元的獎金。

之後的阻礙應答繼福島的嚴重性在2011年核災難是靈感的機器人挑戰賽。剛果（金）項目經理吉爾·普拉特比較事件給英國政府的經度比賽的刺激了計時錶的發展，或挑戰1795波拿巴設置導緻罐頭食品的發明。其目的是探索什麼是可能的人類環境中工作的機器人，創建更高級的方式為人類與機器人進行交流，並鼓勵機器人專家之間的溝通和協作。

在2015年麵臨的挑戰包括八項任務是模擬一個工廠遭一災害。每個機器人必須驅動的小型車，下車後，打開一扇門，穿過，關閉閥門，切斷在牆上鑽一個洞，無論是爬過去的碎片或清理出一條道路，並爬上樓梯。此外，該機器人還具有進行一個驚喜任務。在第一天，這是扳動開關關閉。

為了使事情變得更加睏難，準確的信息保持從有關課程和任務的隊伍，這樣他們就可以不預先編程的機器人。隊也被限製在一個小時完成所有八個任務，機器人不得不完全依靠內部力量，如果機器人摔倒了，它不得不起床自行或遭受的時間損失。隻是為了讓事情變得有趣，對照隊被安置在一個單獨的位置和無線通信鏈路是故意降解並定期中斷。

周五的比賽是嚮公衆開放，作為它已經産生的利息DARPA的認可的一部分。事件Livestreaming也可用於那些無法參加。

三隊中的每個發熱同時競爭與巨大的電視屏幕上看到的動作。評分是根據完成任務，需要用最??好的兩次嘗試的時間

救援格子呢找回了摔倒後

由於普拉特描述的那樣，剛果（金）最終更像是高爾夫球比賽馬 - 東西動慢慢地，然後有事，大家都鼓掌。這裏的氣氛是普遍緊張的一個，而不是興奮的人站起來前傾預期下一次出現的。將機器人從車裏出來，它隻是開車的？它會開門？還是會倒下？如果是這樣，將它重新站起來自己。

這也標誌著開始競爭和停止機器執行任務，然後停止，以確保它們是穩定的，還是等待新的命令，或者自主解決問題。有肯定是具有諷刺意味的??約看著成仟上萬的人觀看3擔的電路和金屬試圖理清一個門把手。

同時，也建立和編程的機器人安全背心和塑料頭盔站在隊伍;盤旋在他們的收費。他們的工作是在現場，如果機器人下降，不能起床根據自身實力。在這種情況下，它們重置機器人任務的起跑線，以模擬第二機器人將在更換第一。這意味著機器人擁有做任務和遭受十分鍾的點球。

承載剛果民主共和國總決賽足以容納人群，雖然視線不太理想的賽道。該課程的背後是巨大的電視搭載在後麵不斷thrumming發電機麵包車銀行。這些畫麵是必要的，不僅要遵循的動作，因為它展現上分開的步驟，也能看到的細節，諸如爪移動交換機或拿起電鑽。隨著播，這意味著DARPA攝像人員是如此之多，他們有時似乎多於媒體。所有這些都使得現場觀看有點挑戰自己。

，標誌著周五的事件是競爭的保守性的團隊開發的戰略和期待，以確保他們的機器人有一件事仍然完好無損。最避免實際上是讓他們的機器人下降，直到比賽開始了，所以感覺還是有點學習麯線並冇有熱衷於被淘汰的首日運行。

然而，這一天是不是冇有它的時刻戲劇性。航空隊有一個挫摺為四足人形機器人遇到了麻煩沙，而走在駕駛課程並獲得多次被卡住後倒下。後來，從噴氣推進實驗室的蜘蛛狀Robosimian結束否則令人印象深刻的運行，當它baulked在樓梯。

跑步的人是一個人群的喜愛，因為它相對容易地從車上卸下，一個不幸的阿特拉斯機器人無法獲得的大門打開，因為它在它的爪手柄多次重擊。

此外，有一個場外案發把扳手的作品。在第二組跑的那天早上，車隊和機器人之間的通訊下樓完全15分鍾。普拉特後來解釋說，這件事發生時，電路過載，它需要重新啓動。此後，任務已重新啓動和時間記。

在在一天結束一個媒體發佈會上，普拉特分享了周五的比賽中他的意見。他指出，訴訟證明的幫助與機械人的互動，以及如何模擬軟件的速度通信的機器人自主性的重要性。對於機器人的設計，他認為，陪審團還在外麵對人形與非人形機器人。人形機器人所帶來的速度，但在某些任務缺乏穩定性，非類人型機器人更穩定，但常常不得不與設計用於人類環境的麻煩。

在一天結束的時候，格子呢拯救了首位，得分為8分和55:15的時候。 Nimbro救援排在第二位7分和34:00，而團隊Robosimian帶來了第三位，7分和47:50的時鍾。

敬請期待第二次也是最後一天的結果。

欲了解更多信息，訪問剛果（金）的總決賽現場。

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