Fukushima-Inspired: Robots in disaster response contest

UNITED STATES/ POMONA: Robots from six countries including US, Japan and South Korea went diode-to-diode in a disaster response challenge inspired by the 2011 Fukushima nuclear meltdown. The winner of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Robotics Challenge (DRC) 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 organised by DARPA, which commissions advanced research for 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 said.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 7^th, 2015.

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