Skip to main content

Google robot wins Robotics Challenge Trials

google and foxconn cosying up for robotics development schaft robot
Image used with permission by copyright holder

The DARPA Robotics Challenge Trials, which saw teams of experts from around the world descend on a Florida racetrack over the weekend to battle it out for a place in next year’s final, has been won by Japanese team Schaft, a company recently acquired by Google.

Sixteen teams with robots designed to provide help as part of response efforts following natural or man-made disasters battled it out across eight challenging tasks, each hoping to make it to the 2014 finals where a $2 million grand prize will be awarded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

Recommended Videos

Tokyo-based Schaft performed ahead of its rivals in half of the challenges laid out for it at the Homestead Miami Speedway site, which included walking across uneven terrain, climbing a ladder, and clearing away debris.

Schaft, a 167-cm, 209-pound bipedal robot (shown above), scored 27 out of a possible 32 points in the various tasks, beating its closest rival – the Atlas robot developed by Boston Dynamics and controlled with software from IHMC Robotics – by seven points. Carnegie Mellon University’s CMU Highly Intelligent Mobile Platform (CHIMP) robot came third with 18 points, while the MIT-controlled Atlas robot finished in fourth place with 16 points. The top eight teams can go forward to next year’s finals taking place a year from now.

atlas humanoid robot
The Atlas humanoid robot. Image used with permission by copyright holder

You can check out the Schaft robot performing its eight tasks in the video below.

According to Adam Jacoff, a robotics research engineer with the National Institutes of Standards and Technology who helped design and develop the tasks, the DARPA Robotics Challenge Trials event is “one of the biggest robotics evaluations on Earth and dwarf many military robot tests, both in scale of ambition and the actual effort involved.”

Google, for one, will be delighted at the outstanding performances given by Schaft and robots developed by Boston Dynamics, as the Web giant announced just last week that it had acquired the two companies. Google has been taking an increasing interest in robotics, this year buying at least eight companies operating in the field. Though it has said little about its long-term robotics-based plans, DT’s Geoff Duncan recently offered up some thoughts on where Google might be going with its high-tech machinery.

[via Gizmodo]

Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
Digital Trends Live: Alexa manages meds, Ford versus Tesla, robot police dogs
episode 264 tesla cybertruck ford f 150 tug of war

On this episode of Digital Trends Live, hosts Greg Nibler and Riley Winn tackle the top trending stories in tech, including Alexa's ability to manage your medications, a Twitter/Facebook data breach, Ford versus Tesla versus Neil DeGrasse Tyson, Boston Dynamics' police dog robots, and more.

We then head down to the L.A. Auto Show to talk about what's new in the automotive world, including the Ford Mustang Mach-E, the Tesla Cybertruck, and other new vehicles.

Read more
The UK’s Wayve brings its AI automated driving software to U.S. shores
wayve ai automated driving us driver assist2 1920x1152 1

It might seem that the autonomous driving trend is moving at full speed and on its own accord, especially if you live in California.Wayve, a UK startup that has received over $1 billion in funding, is now joining the crowded party by launching on-road testing of its AI learning system on the streets of San Francisco and the Bay Area.The announcement comes just weeks after Tesla unveiled its Robotaxi at the Warner Bros Studios in Burbank, California. It was also in San Francisco that an accident last year forced General Motors’ robotaxi service Cruise to stop its operations. And it’s mostly in California that Waymo, the only functioning robotaxi service in the U.S., first deployed its fleet of self-driving cars. As part of its move, Wayve opened a new office in Silicon Valley to support its U.S. expansion and AI development. Similarly to Tesla’s Full-Self Driving (FSD) software, the company says it’s using AI to provide automakers with a full range of driver assistance and automation features.“We are now testing our AI software in real-world environments across two continents,” said Alex Kendall, Wayve co-founder and CEO.The company has already conducted tests on UK roads since 2018. It received a huge boost earlier this year when it raised over $1 billion in a move led by Softbank and joined by Microsoft and Nvidia. In August, Uber also said it would invest to help the development of Wayve’s technology.Just like Tesla’s FSD, Wayve’s software provides an advanced driver assistance system that still requires driver supervision.Before driverless vehicles can legally hit the road, they must first pass strict safety tests.So far, Waymo’s technology, which relies on pre-mapped roads, sensors, cameras, radar, and lidar (a laser-light radar), is the only of its kind to have received the nod from U.S. regulators.

Read more
Aptera’s 3-wheel solar EV hits milestone on way toward 2025 commercialization
Aptera 2e

EV drivers may relish that charging networks are climbing over each other to provide needed juice alongside roads and highways.

But they may relish even more not having to make many recharging stops along the way as their EV soaks up the bountiful energy coming straight from the sun.

Read more