A Race of Robots

Running Man scores another point               Daniel Terdiman for Fast Company

"I instantly see there's a gulf in performance between the top robots and all the others. A handful of bots can't even get out of the vehicle they drive to the start of the course. At one point, the Atlas robot from Hong Kong University spills head-first out of its vehicle, tearing its hydraulic lines and spraying fluid in an arc." So begins an account of the finals at DARPA's Robotics Challenge on June 5-6. It is, according to the article, "the world's most important robotics competition," testing as it does the skills a robot would need in a real-life disaster. The participants drive vehicles, climb stairs, and cut through walls. Some perform most of the tasks automatically and others are completely human-controlled. By the end, the field is narrowed down to the KAIST humanoid, Running Man, Tartan Rescue, Momaro, and CHIMP. With the first prize set at $2 million, the tension is palpable and understandable (story, link to slideshow): http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn27678-thrills-and-spills-as-worlds-best-robots-take-each-other-on.html?full=true#.VXXr7Oc0zeQ