Today and Saturday, 23 robots are tackling a series of obstacle courses in Pomona, California, as part of a competition to win $2 million and be crowned the DARPA Robot Challenge champion. The contestants are mostly humanoid in form, but there are a couple unique entrants from the U.S. and Germany.
Over the course of the competition, the robots will have to drive a car, walk through a debris field, shut off a valve, reconnect some wires, cut a hole in a wall, and climb a flight of stairs. The competition was inspired by the nuclear meltdown of the Fukushima Dai-ichi reactors, a disaster which practically called out for robotic intervention.
A live feed of the DARPA Robot Challenge 2015
Photo credit: DARPA
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