The final phase of the DRC took place from June 5-6 in Pomona, California. The first place winner was Hubo, developed by Team Kaist of Korea.
Second place went to Running Man, developed by Team IHMC Robotics of Pensacola, Florida, and third place went to CHIMP, out of Carnegie Mellon University.
The robot had to reset after failing the drill part of the course, but made it through in the end.
Engineers from MIT’s team watched on as Atlas attempted to drill a hole in the wall.
Germany’s team had seven of eight points after the first day, so it competed at the end of the day, right before the winners were announced.
NimbRo fell when it was trying to get through the rubble, and had a bit of trouble getting up.
Tartan Rescue, out of Carnegie Mellon University and the National Robotics Engineering Center, warmed up before its final run. It placed first, with all eight points in under an hour, the first day of the challenge.
CHIMP accidentally drove the Polaris into the barricade.
CHIMP prepared for the drill task. Communication was degraded in the course, so the robots had to act autonomously for certain things.
RoboSimian got out of the car and then did some crazy moves to stand on its head and go through the course.
The crowd went wild as RoboSimian entered the course.
The audience erupted as the Warner robot out of Worcester Polytechnic Institute and Carnegie Mellon University successfully exited the vehicle.
The first task was to open the door, which this robot did successfully.
At a fairly fast pace, WPI’s robot climbed over the cement rubble in the course.
Thousands of yards away, software teams worked to control the robot, though there were periodic blackouts while it was in the course to simulate a real-life disaster situation.
Teams were having fun decorating their robots back in the garage where they stayed for the weekend.
This robot, from Robotis, and its caretaker, skated around the expo and danced for visitors.
Team Aero out of the University of Tokyo attempted the surprise task, putting a cord into a hole.
Sadly, the robot dropped the cord. It only cried a little.
The DRC drew a huge crowd, who oohed and ahhed, laughed, and gasped watching robots try to go through the course.
A robot fell after trying to get through the final part of the challenge, and the team had to pick it up, which meant they lost 10 minutes of time.
There were four of these courses running simultaneously in the challenge.
This demonstration shows how a tiny robot can gauge environmental conditions and report back to its momma robot.
NASA showed off by making its robot dance.
These robots danced to top 40 hits. It was perhaps more amazing than robots opening doors and climbing stairs.
There were hundreds of kids at the DRC, all excited about robots.
Hubo was out of University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
Teams consistently worked on the tech behind the robots at their expo booths.
The DRC teams had been in Pomona for a week, and the software teams virtually never slept, constantly updating code. This HKU team member took a break.
SRI demoed its humanoid robot, which it unveiled at the DRC. The battery for this guy lasts eight hours.
SRI is developing smart, affordable robot technology.
This robot out of SRI can take apart bombs remotely.
An SRI engineer demos how the robot could take apart a bomb.
These robotic leg supports allow soldiers to carry 150 pounds without hurting themselves.
There were many young girls at the DRC, interested in robots — which was really great to see, because there were almost none on the teams.
MIT drew a huge crowd with its robot cheetah, which ran up and down the course, hopped, and danced.
Lyndsey Gilpin is a former Staff Writer for TechRepublic, covering sustainability and entrepreneurship. She's co-author of the book Follow the Geeks.
