Earthbound Robotics Gets A Boost From DARPA

摘要

Back on Earth, the Defense Department has turned its now-familiar practice of encouraging innovation through competition with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's (DARPA) Robotics Challenge. DARPA is now in the midst of a nearly two-yearlong competition in which it is asking competitors to develop robots that can assist humans in a variety of scenarios ranging from humanitarian relief efforts to post-natural disaster recovery. One of the operational characteristics DARPA is requiring of all entries is the ability to operate autonomously in case the robot loses communications contact with its human controller.