humanoid robot, Schaft won the DARPA robotics challenge.This comes in
the wake of the company buying over eight robotic companies this year.
Schaft was bought by Google which bought it before the competition
from Japan's,University of Jouhou System Kougaku.It uses liquid
cooling motor technology with a capacitor instead of batteries.The
technology gives it enough power through arms and legs as compared to
normal those with normal batteries.
The robots were given tasks to complete each lasting 30minutes.Points
were awarded according to accuracy given in completing a task.These
tasks included walking up a ladder,opening a door,driving a vehicle in
a road with obstacles,fitting a horsepipe to a fire extinguisher etc.
The schaft robot obtained 27 out of 32 points.It was the best
performing robot completing all eight tasks with minimal assistance.
The second position was held by Google's Boston Dynamic's, ''Atlas'',
owned by IHMC.
Event organisers DARPA institute explained that they wanted to
encourage design of multitasking robots which could offer a helping
hand in disasters.The robots are expected to be more flexible to move
through rubbles and even enter potentialy unsafe buildings e.g.
Nuclear reactors to close valves. The institute offered the top eight
performing humanoid robots, with borrowings upto $1million to fund
their projects.
The winner, Google's Schaft was awarded with $2million.