DARPA Robotics Challenge 2015: Final Search For Best Disaster Response Droid Begins

Meet The Superhero Robots That Will Save The Day
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The countdown to the DARPA Robotics Challenge has begun as the finals kick off tomorrow in Pomona, California.

A total of 24 teams will be competing to give us the ultimate disaster response robot and win the grand prize of $3.5m (£2.3m).

The aim of the challenge is to create a bot that will be able to function like a human in hazardous conditions with minimal expert supervision.

The four-year old competition, conceived after the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear disaster, will see each of the robots complete a circuit with a series of tasks including climbing stairs, clearing rubble, driving a vehicle, cutting through walls and performing a surprise task,

Meet the finalists:

DARPA Robotics Challenge
CHIMP(01 of24)
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CHIMP is designed by Carnegie Mellon University-NREC and meant to function in dangerous environment. (credit:Tartan Rescue)
Aero DRC(02 of24)
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Team Aero are from Tokyo Japan. (credit:Team Aero )
HRP2+(03 of24)
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HRP2+ is built by members of the National Institute of Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Japan. (credit:Team AIST-NEDO)
Metal Rebel(04 of24)
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Metal Rebel was created by a team of researchers from University of Nevada Las Vegas. (credit:Team DRC-Hubo at UNLV)
Cog-Burn(05 of24)
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Cog-Burn creators have participated in the 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge and the 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge. (credit:Team Grit)
Johnny 05(06 of24)
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Team Hector is based at the Department of Computer Science of Technische Universität (TU) Darmstadt in Germany. (credit:Team Hector )
Atlas(07 of24)
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Atlas is the creation of a team from Hong Long University. (credit:Team HKU)
HRP-2(08 of24)
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Team HRP2-Tokyo comprises of 27 researchers and students from Jouhou System Kougaku. (credit:Team HRP2-Tokyo)
Running Man (Atlas)(09 of24)
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The Running Man (Atlas) is the creation of a team from the Institute of Human and Machine Cognition in Pensacola, Florida. (credit:Team IHMC Robotics)
DRC-HUBO(10 of24)
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DRC-HUBO's developers are from South Korea. (credit:Team KAIST)
Helios (Atlas)(11 of24)
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Helios (Atlas) is the product of a collaboration between various departments within MIT's School of Engineering. (credit:Team MIT)
Hydra(12 of24)
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A team of 20 people from four different universities in Tokyo, Japan are behind Hydra. (credit:Team NEDO-Hydra)
JAXON(13 of24)
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JAXON was created by researchers from the University of Tokyo. (credit:Team NEDO-JSK)
Momaro(14 of24)
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Momaro was created by a team based at the Computer Science Institute in the University of Bonn, Germany. (credit:Team NimbRo Rescue)
RoboSimian(15 of24)
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Jet Propulsion Labs based in California are responsible for RoboSimian. (credit:Team RoboSimian)
THORMANG(16 of24)
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Team ROBOTIS from South Korea will be entering a humanoid robot for the DARPA finals. (credit:Team ROBOTIS )
THORMANG(17 of24)
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Thormang is created by a team from South Korea. (credit:Team SNU)
THOR-RD(18 of24)
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Thor-Rd is the result of a collaboration between the University of California, Los Angeles, and the University of Pennsylvania. (credit:Team THOR)
Hercules (Atlas)(19 of24)
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Hercules (Atlas) has been developed by a small team in Texas, reportedly the only business-run group in the finals. (credit:Team TRAC Labs)
LEO (Atlas)(20 of24)
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Leo's (Atlas) developers are based in the Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Laboratories. (credit:Team TROOPER)
ESCHER(21 of24)
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ESCHER stands for Electric Series Compliant Humanoid for Emergency Response. The team are based in Virginia Tech. (credit:Team VALOR)
Florian(22 of24)
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Florian is the result of a collaborative effort from researchers based in Darmstadt Germany, Blacksburg Virginia, Corvallis Oregon, Ithaca New York & Hanover Germany. (credit:Team ViGIR)
WALK-MAN(23 of24)
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Walk-man has been developed by the Italian Institute of Technology. (credit:Team WALK-MAN)
WARNER (Atlas)(24 of24)
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Warner (Atlas) developers are based in Worcester Polytechnic Institute and Carnegie Mellon University. (credit:Team WPI-CMU)