A bipedal humanoid robot is being made that can drive tractors, open doors, climb on pipes and find leaks and then seal it or fix a broken pump. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is looking for this type of robots. It’s like the same robot that we have seen in the movie, ‘iRobot.’ These robots are remotely operated.
No doubt, DARPA is taking a new Grand Challenge! Gill Pratt announced this new challenge at a Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) Industry Day. Dr. Gill Pratt mentioned at DTRA Industry Day that, “the new Grand Challenge is for a humanoid robot (with a bias toward bipedal designs) that can be used in rough terrain and for industrial disasters. The robot will be required to maneuver into and drive an open-frame vehicle (eg. tractor), proceed to a building and dismount, ingress through a locked door using a key, traverse a 100 meter rubble-strewn hallway, climb a ladder, locate a leaking pipe and seal it by closing off a nearby valve, and then replace a faulty pump to resume normal operations: all semi-autonomously with just ‘supervisory teleoperation.'”
It’s really a tough challenge, but based on present technology, it’s not impossible. According to DARPA’s requirements, 6 hardware teams will work to develop these new robots and 12 software teams will create a different but common platform.
Source : Hizook
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