Robots compete in Fukushima-inspired US challenge

AFP, POMONA: Robots from six countries including the United States, Japan and South Korea went diode-to-diode Friday in a disaster response challenge inspired by the 2011 Fukushima nuclear meltdown.
The winner of the DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC), to be announced yesterday after a two-day competition in California, will take home $2 million followed by $1 million for the runner-up and $500,000 for third place.
But they will also win the kudos of triumphing after a three-year robotics contest organized by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), which commissions advanced research for the US Defense Department.
“The US military has an implicit mission to respond to humanitarian disaster relief. But in order to do so you need the tools to effectively respond,” said DARPA official Brad Tousley. “In many cases you’d like to send robots into the places that it’s very dangerous for humans to go into,” he told AFP, citing nuclear reactor disasters but also earthquakes and epidemics like Ebola.
In all 24 mostly human-shaped bots and their teams -- 12 from the United States, five from Japan, three from South Korea, two from Germany and one each from Italy and Hong Kong—won through to the finals.       
Over the two days, each robot has two chances to compete on an obstacle course comprising eight tasks, including driving, going through a door, opening a valve, punching through a wall and dealing with rubble and stairs.
The challenges facing them in Pomona, just east of Los Angeles, were designed specifically with Fukushima in mind.
After the March 11, 2011 megaquake and tsunami, a team of plant workers set out to enter the darkened reactor buildings and manually vent accumulated hydrogen.
Unfortunately they had to turn back due to radiation—and in the days that followed hydrogen built up, fueling explosions that extensively damaged the facility, contaminating the enviromnent and drastically worsening the crisis.
“If the Japanese had had advanced robotics systems that could have used tools that we use in everyday life .. they might have prevented some of the damage from the subsequent hydrogen explosions,” said Tousley.
While the robotics teams competing in Pomona are focused on the tasks in hand, they also have their eyes on more than just winning the competition.

Robots compete in Fukushima-inspired US challenge

AFP, POMONA: Robots from six countries including the United States, Japan and South Korea went diode-to-diode Friday in a disaster response challenge inspired by the 2011 Fukushima nuclear meltdown. The winner of the DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC), to be announced yesterday after a two-day competition in California, will take home $2 million followed by $1 million for the runner-up and $500,000 for third place. But they will also win the kudos of triumphing after a three-year robotics contest organized by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), which commissions advanced research for the US Defense Department. The US military has an implicit mission to respond to humanitarian disaster relief. But in order to do so you need the tools to effectively respond, said DARPA official Brad Tousley. In many cases youd like to send robots into the places that its very dangerous for humans to go into, he told AFP, citing nuclear reactor disasters but also earthquakes and epidemics like Ebola. In all 24 mostly human-shaped bots and their teams -- 12 from the United States, five from Japan, three from South Korea, two from Germany and one each from Italy and Hong Kongwon through to the finals. Over the two days, each robot has two chances to compete on an obstacle course comprising eight tasks, including driving, going through a door, opening a valve, punching through a wall and dealing with rubble and stairs. The challenges facing them in Pomona, just east of Los Angeles, were designed specifically with Fukushima in mind. After the March 11, 2011 megaquake and tsunami, a team of plant workers set out to enter the darkened reactor buildings and manually vent accumulated hydrogen. Unfortunately they had to turn back due to radiationand in the days that followed hydrogen built up, fueling explosions that extensively damaged the facility, contaminating the enviromnent and drastically worsening the crisis. If the Japanese had had advanced robotics systems that could have used tools that we use in everyday life .. they might have prevented some of the damage from the subsequent hydrogen explosions, said Tousley. While the robotics teams competing in Pomona are focused on the tasks in hand, they also have their eyes on more than just winning the competition.