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.

机器人已经为2015 DRC总决赛做好准备

Robots方休在2015年刚果（金）Finals

救援格子呢工作阀（图片提供：大卫Szondy

Gizmag）

图片廊（30幅）

其中一位选手打开一扇门体育赛事，及时落在自己的脸上，然后站起来，再次听起来像小于铆接，但上周五约10,000人，在Fairplex波莫纳，加利福尼亚州，欢呼和尖叫鼓励，因为正是这样发生了。当然，事实是，竞争者是一个叫格子呢救援机器人和竞争是DARPA的机器人挑战赛（金）最终2015年的第一天，有一些东西需要用它做。旨在创造机器人，在重大灾害可能有一天帮助响应，在为期两天的挑战是主人对23个国际团队为美国竞争$ 350万美元的奖金。

之后的阻碍应答继福岛的严重性在2011年核灾难是灵感的机器人挑战赛。刚果（金）项目经理吉尔·普拉特比较事件给英国政府的经度比赛的刺激了计时表的发展，或挑战1795波拿巴设置导致罐头食品的发明。其目的是探索什么是可能的人类环境中工作的机器人，创建更高级的方式为人类与机器人进行交流，并鼓励机器人专家之间的沟通和协作。

在2015年面临的挑战包括八项任务是模拟一个工厂遭一灾害。每个机器人必须驱动的小型车，下车后，打开一扇门，穿过，关闭阀门，切断在墙上钻一个洞，无论是爬过去的碎片或清理出一条道路，并爬上楼梯。此外，该机器人还具有进行一个惊喜任务。在第一天，这是扳动开关关闭。

为了使事情变得更加困难，准确的信息保持从有关课程和任务的队伍，这样他们就可以不预先编程的机器人。队也被限制在一个小时完成所有八个任务，机器人不得不完全依靠内部力量，如果机器人摔倒了，它不得不起床自行或遭受的时间损失。只是为了让事情变得有趣，对照队被安置在一个单独的位置和无线通信链路是故意降解并定期中断。

周五的比赛是向公众开放，作为它已经产生的利息DARPA的认可的一部分。事件Livestreaming也可用于那些无法参加。

三队中的每个发热同时竞争与巨大的电视屏幕上看到的动作。评分是根据完成任务，需要用最??好的两次尝试的时间

救援格子呢找回了摔倒后

由于普拉特描述的那样，刚果（金）最终更像是高尔夫球比赛马 - 东西动慢慢地，然后有事，大家都鼓掌。这里的气氛是普遍紧张的一个，而不是兴奋的人站起来前倾预期下一次出现的。将机器人从车里出来，它只是开车的？它会开门？还是会倒下？如果是这样，将它重新站起来自己。

这也标志着开始竞争和停止机器执行任务，然后停止，以确保它们是稳定的，还是等待新的命令，或者自主解决问题。有肯定是具有讽刺意味的??约看着成千上万的人观看3担的电路和金属试图理清一个门把手。

同时，也建立和编程的机器人安全背心和塑料头盔站在队伍;盘旋在他们的收费。他们的工作是在现场，如果机器人下降，不能起床根据自身实力。在这种情况下，它们重置机器人任务的起跑线，以模拟第二机器人将在更换第一。这意味着机器人拥有做任务和遭受十分钟的点球。

承载刚果民主共和国总决赛足以容纳人群，虽然视线不太理想的赛道。该课程的背后是巨大的电视搭载在后面不断thrumming发电机面包车银行。这些画面是必要的，不仅要遵循的动作，因为它展现上分开的步骤，也能看到的细节，诸如爪移动交换机或拿起电钻。随着播，这意味着DARPA摄像人员是如此之多，他们有时似乎多于媒体。所有这些都使得现场观看有点挑战自己。

，标志着周五的事件是竞争的保守性的团队开发的战略和期待，以确保他们的机器人有一件事仍然完好无损。最避免实际上是让他们的机器人下降，直到比赛开始了，所以感觉还是有点学习曲线并没有热衷于被淘汰的首日运行。

然而，这一天是不是没有它的时刻戏剧性。航空队有一个挫折为四足人形机器人遇到了麻烦沙，而走在驾驶课程并获得多次被卡住后倒下。后来，从喷气推进实验室的蜘蛛状Robosimian结束否则令人印象深刻的运行，当它baulked在楼梯。

跑步的人是一个人群的喜爱，因为它相对容易地从车上卸下，一个不幸的阿特拉斯机器人无法获得的大门打开，因为它在它的爪手柄多次重击。

此外，有一个场外案发把扳手的作品。在第二组跑的那天早上，车队和机器人之间的通讯下楼完全15分钟。普拉特后来解释说，这件事发生时，电路过载，它需要重新启动。此后，任务已重新启动和时间记。

在在一天结束一个媒体发布会上，普拉特分享了周五的比赛中他的意见。他指出，诉讼证明的帮助与机械人的互动，以及如何模拟软件的速度通信的机器人自主性的重要性。对于机器人的设计，他认为，陪审团还在外面对人形与非人形机器人。人形机器人所带来的速度，但在某些任务缺乏稳定性，非类人型机器人更稳定，但常常不得不与设计用于人类环境的麻烦。

在一天结束的时候，格子呢拯救了首位，得分为8分和55:15的时候。 Nimbro救援排在第二位7分和34:00，而团队Robosimian带来了第三位，7分和47:50的时钟。

敬请期待第二次也是最后一天的结果。

欲了解更多信息，访问刚果（金）的总决赛现场。

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