Robots-Blog visiting Maker Faire Hanover – Video
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Szene-Treff Maker Faire Hannover – Wo sich DIY-YouTuber, Cosplayer und Lichtkünstler begegnen
Hannover, 31. August 2022 – Am 10. und 11. September treffen sich auf der achten Maker Faire im HCC wieder DIY-YouTuber und geben Einblicke in ihre Maker-Welt. Auch etliche Cosplayer haben sich zum Festival verabredet, um dort ihre farbenfrohen, aufwändig hergestellten Kostüme zu präsentieren. Leuchtende Exponate haben die verschiedenen Lichtkünstler im Gepäck, mit denen sie die Besucherinnen und Besucher in der Dark Gallery verzaubern wollen.
Maker Faire – das heißt anfassen, ausprobieren, voneinander lernen und vernetzen: Auch in der achten Auflage der Maker Faire ist das Angebot der rund 1000 ausstellenden Maker vielfältig. Bereits zum vierten Mal sind Szene-YouTuber aus dem Genre DIY/Handwerk zu Gast. Angekündigt hat sich die bekannte Makerin Laura Kampf, die gemeinsam mit „HABU“, Felix Schelhasse, Franks Shed, Jonas Winkler und Karoline Hinz an den Paneltalks am Samstag um 16:30 Uhr und am Sonntag um 12:10 Uhr teilnehmen wird.
Bild: Jürgen Klöck
Darüber hinaus zeigen unter anderem die YouTuber Pero Cetkovic aka Der Kompressorschrauber und Marcel von Bau Boom Bang sowie Ellen Brilhuis-Meijer von Crafts with Ellen ihre Werke und bieten Mitmachaktionen an.
Sie heißen Babyroods, Karamelori, Anxietea.exe oder weeiiird.cos und lieben es, fiktive Charaktere durch ihre Cosplays in die Realität zu holen. Die Cosplayerinnen sowie Instagram- und TikTok-Stars nutzen die Maker Faire, um ihre ausgefallenen Kostümideen vorzustellen und über ihre Vorbilder aus Animes, Mangas oder Videospielen zu erzählen.
In der Dark Gallery – die verdunkelte Halle gibt es nach 2019 zum zweiten Mal auf der Maker Faire – sind es vor allem Jonas Vorwerk, Teammitglieder von Tim Davies, die jungen Maker von ARTandTECH.space, Jürgen Klöck und Franz Betz, die als Lichtkünstler faszinierende Projekte mitgebracht haben.
Ein Hingucker ist „Pixels“, eine interaktive Lichtinstallation von Jonas Vorwerk , einem niederländischem Multimedia-Künstler, der sich audiovisueller Kunst mit Schwerpunkt Interaktion widmet. Pixels besteht aus verschiedenen LED-Blöcken, die bei Interaktion die Farbe und Intensität wechseln und von den Besuchern vielfältig zu verschiedenen Kreationen zusammengebaut werden können.
Als unübersehbares Highlight gleitet ISO durch die Dark Gallery: ein sieben Meter langes und fünf Meter hohes Monster, das einer Tiefsee-Assel ähnelt und vollständig mit LEDs beleuchtet wird. Das Projekt stammt von Tim Davies , einem britischen Bildhauer und Ingenieur mit Vorliebe für großformartige kinetische Kreaturen. Iso wird von einer Person gesteuert, die dem Unterwassertier Leben einhaucht.
Das Projektlabor Berufskolleg Rheine und die Jugendkunstschule Rheine präsentieren viele ausgefallene Lichtobjekte, die im ARTandTECH.space entstanden sind. Jürgen Klöck stellt seine Upcycling-Ideen – er baut aus schrottreifen Geräten warm leuchtende Lampen – ebenfalls in der Dark Gallery vor.
Zudem können große und kleine Besucher die Discokugel aus CDs bestaunen, die der stadtbekannte Lichtbildhauer Franz Betz im vergangenen Jahr als Außenwette der digitalen Maker Faire gebaut hat. Der Hannoveraner wird nicht nur das Schwarmkunstwerk mit einem Durchmesser von zwei Metern präsentieren, sondern gemeinsam mit Besuchern weitere kleine Discokugeln bauen und so die Halle zum Strahlen bringen.
Infos und Tickets zum bunten DIY-Familienfestival gibt es unter www.maker-faire.de/hannover.
57% of Manufacturers Say Robots Aren’t Taking Human Jobs
Veo Robotics’ 2022 Manufacturing Automation Outlook finds that human-robot collaboration has risen for 6 out of 10 manufacturers in the last year, as facilities turn to automation to supplement workers
WALTHAM, MASS. (PRWEB) JULY 12, 2022
57% of global manufacturers believe that robots are not replacing human workers in their facilities, but rather working alongside humans to supplement their work. This is one of the significant findings from Veo Robotics’ 2022 Manufacturing Automation Outlook, released today by the industrial automation company that created FreeMove®, a comprehensive 3D safeguarding system for industrial robots that powers dynamic human-robot collaboration.
The Outlook also found that 61% of manufacturers say that human-robot interaction within their facilities has increased over the last year. The data point highlights how humans increasingly work alongside robot co-workers post-pandemic as manufacturers grapple with inflation, ongoing supply chain issues, and unprecedented labor shortages. Nearly all manufacturers are looking to automate more operations, including turning to robots to handle mundane, repetitive, or overly risky tasks.
With North American robot purchases reaching a record high in 2021, and global sales expected to increase to $31B by 2028, Veo Robotics surveyed more than 500 manufacturers across the US, UK, and Japan to inform the Outlook and explore how these organizations are integrating robots into their workforce, as well as the resulting impacts on facilities and their human workers. As speculation about the effect of robots on local jobs markets continues to contribute to mixed public opinion, Veo Robotics’ data suggests most manufacturing professionals do not believe that their jobs are at risk due to the increased adoption of robots.
“Our findings highlight that the majority of manufacturers are increasing automation with the goal of robots working alongside human co-workers rather than directly replacing them,” said Patrick Sobalvarro, CEO and co-founder of Veo Robotics. “We find that using robots increases the productivity and the value of human workers, freeing them to use their intelligence, judgment, and dexterity in their work.”
The rise in interactions between human and machine co-workers also necessitates new safeguarding methods that don’t hinder productivity. Although 63% of manufacturers told Veo Robotics that they were at least “moderately satisfied” with their safety when interacting with robots, most (41%) say they keep their robots in fully-fenced, caged environments to prevent injury or harm to human workers. This reliance on fully caged robots often hinders modern manufacturing facilities’ speed, efficiency, and flexibility.
In fact, 44% of manufacturers note that their workers need to enter workcells at least every 1-2 hours, making it unsurprising that 63% also report that their current workcell safeguarding solutions pose challenges in the form of limiting flexibility, increasing human workloads, constraining space, and slowing down production time.
Additional highlights from Veo Robotics’ 2022 Manufacturing Automation Outlook include:
- Over 55% of manufacturers report having ten or more robots in their facilities, with nearly one in three (32%) saying they have 30 or more
- 81% of manufacturers said they deal with robot-led production shutdowns
- More than a fifth of respondents said that nuisance faults with their current robot workcell safeguarding methods cause production to shut down at least every couple of hours
- As inflation hits manufacturers, 33% of respondents noted that “reducing the cost and complexity of manufacturing” was one of their biggest challenges over the next six months to a year
- Other manufacturers noted that supply chain constraints (34%) and hiring and training of skilled workers (37%) were still their biggest problems
“Innovation being embraced within industrial processes is a great sign. But as the machine workforce evolves, so must the work environment,“ added Sobalvarro. “Modern manufacturing facilities and warehouses do not have the time to halt production in every situation where a human worker needs to enter a cage. A much more efficient and flexible safeguarding method is Speed & Separation Monitoring (SSM), which enables workers to interact safely with robots without entering the caged work environment. With SSM, manufacturers can prioritize safety and productivity without sacrificing one for the other.”
Read the full Veo Robotics 2022 Manufacturing Automation Outlook here.
About Veo Robotics
Veo Robotics is an industrial automation company building comprehensive sensing and intelligence for robots to collaborate with humans safely. It is the creator of FreeMove®, a comprehensive 3D safeguarding system for industrial robots that powers dynamic human-robot interactions. FreeMove enables fluid, efficient, and flexible production lines. Veo currently partners with the world’s four major robot manufacturers FANUC, Yaskawa, ABB, and Kuka. To learn more, please visit http://www.veobot.com.
Festo and MassRobotics are Leading the Global Nurturing of Healthcare Robotics Innovation
The Festo-MassRobotics Healthcare Robotics Startup Catalyst program celebrates the milestones achieved by the program’s four selected global startups at the Healthcare Robotics Engineering Forum. Key life sciences and robotics speakers to lead the event.
The successful Healthcare Robotics Startup Catalyst program came to an end on April 7th, 2022. The concluding ceremony will be held at the Healthcare Robotics Engineering Forum, Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, on May 11, 2022. The event includes an impressive line-up of speakers: Fady Saad, Co-founder & Vice President of Strategic Partnerships at MassRobotics; Alfons Riek, Vice President of Technology and Innovation at Festo; Kendalle Burlin O’Connell, President & Chief Operating Officer at MassBio; Kenn Turner, President and CEO at Mass Life Sciences Center; and Brian Johnson, President at MassMedic. All four selected startup companies, Kinarm (Canada), Assistive Technology Development Inc. (United States), Eureka Robotics (Singapore), and Bionomous (Switzerland ) will, in turn, promote their companies, along with their products and service offerings. They will also be demonstrating their technologies on the event’s expo floor.
In October 2021, MassRobotics, Festo, and other key players in healthcare robotics, launched a Startup Catalyst Program to advance healthcare robotics companies around the world, by providing the networking opportunities, guidance, and resources they need to grow and succeed. The aim of the program was to connect healthcare robotics startups with customers, investors, suppliers, marketing, and overall support. The program focused on startups in the areas of clinical care, public safety, laboratory, supply chain automation, out-of-hospital care, quality of life, as well as continuity of work and education, and training and support for healthcare professionals.
More than 30 companies applied from all over the world, and the selection committee invited four to join in the program. The participating startups completed impressive milestones, as detailed below:
- Eureka Robotics develops and commercializes cutting-edge robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to automate high-accuracy, high-agility tasks. Eureka is currently completing fundraising rounds in Japan through connections provided by program mentors. Eureka was introduced to MassRobotics partner, Mitsubishi Electric, and signed a global partnership with Mitsubishi as a platinum partner. The program helped the company’s leadership to explore attractive applications in surgical lenses manufacturing technology, which is an extension to its focus on traditional manufacturing.
- Bionomous provides laboratory equipment to automate the screening, sorting, and pipetting of miniature biological entities for more ethical and faster research in life science. CEO Frank Bonnet reports that with the aid of the Catalyst Program, Bionomous was able to run a pilot program in the US, leading to the company’s first sales outside Europe. This convinced Bionomous to expand into the US market and set up offices in the MassRobotics space in Boston. Bonnet emphasized the importance of the program’s mentors, who connected them to key industry leaders to open possibilities for future partnerships.
- Assistive Technology Development Inc. is an American startup dedicated to at-home physical therapy solutions that are operable at a low cost and always accessible to rural patients and those who need closer monitoring for recovery. The company came into the program with three goals: 1) begin its first pilot study in a clinical setting; 2) downsize the actuation unit to a wearable form, and 3) raise capital. CEO Todd Roberts reports that with help from the program, the company has completed the first two milestones and is making progress on the third. It will begin phase I of a pilot study with UCHealth, a not-for-profit health care system, headquartered in Aurora, Colorado, on April 25th, allowing the company to present preliminary results at the keynote event at the Healthcare Conference. The study will assess the early clinical efficacy and collect patient and clinician feedback. Assistive’s actuation unit has been downsized by 70%, from a large, wall-powered, benchtop system to a wearable, battery-powered system that will enable the company to complete the pilot. Finally, Assistive is in the process of raising capital and has begun diligence with two firms.
- Kinarm uses robotic arms to provide an objective assessment method to identify, measure, and track cognitive motor or sensory impairments resulting from injury or disease. Kinarm worked with assigned mentors from the robotics ecosystem who provided introductions to industry leaders who responded with “jaw-dropping, you-can-do-that?” exclamations, reports Anne Vivian-Scott, CEO. Vivian-Scott was also introduced to experienced healthcare robotics leaders who will collaboratively aid Kinarm as the company scales its solutions. Vivian-Scott adds, “What we gained was not specific knowledge that can be encoded into our product, but direction. Quite frankly, most other programs are not ‘sufficiently vested’ in the participant’s business/opportunity to be able to offer such feedback.”
“I am grateful to Festo’s pioneering work to support our efforts to find global disrupting applications and startups in such a human-care field like healthcare, including life science, biotech, and medical devices,” said Fady Saad of MassRobotics.
“I am impressed with the quality of applications we received, and the unique structure of the program that allowed us to select such innovative companies and match them with world-class advisors,” said Festo’s Alfons Riek. “Certainly, we are excited about the networking opportunities opened to these companies and to presenting them to the world as great examples of the power of utilizing robotics in healthcare.”
MassRobotics, Festo, and additional corporations plan to launch the second version of the program by July 2022 to build on the programs’ amazing momentum and impact.
ABOUT MassRobotics: MassRobotics is the result of the collective work of a group of engineers, rocket scientists, and entrepreneurs with a shared vision to create an innovation hub and startup cluster focused on the needs of the robotics and IoT community. MassRobotics’ mission is to help create and scale the next generation of successful robotics and connected devices companies by providing entrepreneurs and innovative robotics/automation startups with the workspace and resources they need to develop, prototype, test, and commercialize their products and solutions. See www.massrobotics.org for details.
About Festo: Festo is a global player and an independent family-owned company with headquarters in Esslingen am Neckar, Germany. Festo has set standards in industrial automation technology and technical education ever since its establishment, thereby making a contribution to the sustainable development of the environment, the economy, and society. The company supplies pneumatic and electrical automation technology to 300,000 customers of factory and process automation in over 35 industries. The LifeTech sector with medical technology and laboratory automation is becoming increasingly important. The products and services are available in 176 countries. With about 20,000 employees in over 250 branch offices in 61 countries worldwide, Festo achieved a turnover of around €2.84 billion in 2020. Each year around 8 % of this turnover is invested in research and development. In this learning company, 1.5 % of turnover is invested in basic and further training. Festo Didactic SE is a leading provider of technical education and training and offers its customers worldwide comprehensive digital and physical learning solutions in the industrial environment.
Maker Faire Ruhr 2022
Draper Teaches Robots to Build Trust with Humans – new research
New study shows methods robots can use to self-assess their own performance
CAMBRIDGE, MASS. (PRWEB) MARCH 08, 2022
Establishing human-robot trust isn’t always easy. Beyond the fear of automation going rogue, robots simply don’t communicate how they are doing. When this happens, establishing a basis for humans to trust robots can be difficult.
Now, research is shedding light on how autonomous systems can foster human confidence in robots. Largely, the research suggests that humans have an easier time trusting a robot that offers some kind of self-assessment as it goes about its tasks, according to Aastha Acharya, a Draper Scholar and Ph.D. candidate at the University of Colorado Boulder.
Acharya said we need to start considering what communications are useful, particularly if we want to have humans trust and rely on their automated co-workers. “We can take cues from any effective workplace relationship, where the key to establishing trust is understanding co-workers’ capabilities and limitations,” she said. A gap in understanding can lead to improper tasking of the robot, and subsequent misuse, abuse or disuse of its autonomy.
To understand the problem, Acharya joined researchers from Draper and the University of Colorado Boulder to study how autonomous robots that use learned probabilistic world models can compute and express self-assessed competencies in the form of machine self-confidence. Probabilistic world models take into account the impact of uncertainties in events or actions in predicting the potential occurrence of future outcomes.
In the study, the world models were designed to enable the robots to forecast their behavior and report their own perspective about their tasking prior to task execution. With this information, a human can better judge whether a robot is sufficiently capable of completing a task, and adjust expectations to suit the situation.
To demonstrate their method, researchers developed and tested a probabilistic world model on a simulated intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance mission for an autonomous uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV). The UAV flew over a field populated by a radio tower, an airstrip and mountains. The mission was designed to collect data from the tower while avoiding detection by an adversary. The UAV was asked to consider factors such as detections, collections, battery life and environmental conditions to understand its task competency.
Findings were reported in the article “Generalizing Competency Self-Assessment for Autonomous Vehicles Using Deep Reinforcement Learning,” where the team addressed several important questions. How do we encourage appropriate human trust in an autonomous system? How do we know that self-assessed capabilities of the autonomous system are accurate?
Human-machine collaboration lies at the core of a wide spectrum of algorithmic strategies for generating soft assurances, which are collectively aimed at trust management, according to the paper. “Humans must be able to establish a basis for correctly using and relying on robotic autonomy for success,” the authors said. The team behind the paper includes Acharya’s advisors Rebecca Russell, Ph.D., from Draper and Nisar Ahmed, Ph.D., from the University of Colorado Boulder.
The research into autonomous self-assessment is based upon work supported by DARPA’s Competency-Aware Machine Learning (CAML) program.
In addition, funds for this study were provided by the Draper Scholar Program. The program gives graduate students the opportunity to conduct their thesis research under the supervision of both a faculty adviser and a member of Draper’s technical staff, in an area of mutual interest. Draper Scholars’ graduate degree tuition and stipends are funded by Draper.
Since 1973, the Draper Scholar Program, formerly known as the Draper Fellow Program, has supported more than 1,000 graduate students pursuing advanced degrees in engineering and the sciences. Draper Scholars are from both civilian and military backgrounds, and Draper Scholar alumni excel worldwide in the technical, corporate, government, academic, and entrepreneurship sectors.
Draper
At Draper, we believe exciting things happen when new capabilities are imagined and created. Whether formulating a concept and developing each component to achieve a field-ready prototype, or combining existing technologies in new ways, Draper engineers apply multidisciplinary approaches that deliver new capabilities to customers. As a nonprofit engineering innovation company, Draper focuses on the design, development and deployment of advanced technological solutions for the world’s most challenging and important problems. We provide engineering solutions directly to government, industry and academia; work on teams as prime contractor or subcontractor; and participate as a collaborator in consortia. We provide unbiased assessments of technology or systems designed or recommended by other organizations—custom designed, as well as commercial-off-the-shelf. Visit Draper at http://www.draper.com.
Robothon® – The Grand Challenge 2022 // Call for Teams
Dear Robothon® Community!
We, the Munich Institute of Robotics and Machine Intelligence (MIRMI) of the Technical University of Munich (TUM), in collaboration with Messe München
and automatica have launched successfully a new high-tech platform calledmunich_i in 2021, an event bringing together the world’s leading thought leaders and personalities from AI and robotics.
munich_i will take place again at the next automatica from June 21-24, 2022 in Munich, therefore
Robothon®, the international competition to develop skills in robot manipulations, will also go into the second round!!
Robothon® – The Grand Challenge Series focuses on pressing and unsolved challenges of our time and was 2021 held digitally in the run-up to the automatica sprint
with 9 international teams and a renowned Grand Challenge Jury. As a highlight, it ended with the Award Ceremony on June 22, 2021
with 4 winning teams, a total prize money of € 22,500, great recognition and an expansion of our community.
Are you a motivated robotics enthusiast looking for new challenges?
CALL FOR TEAMS is open until March 31, 2022!!
Apply HERE!
KEY FACTS:
- Robothon® will once again will be held digitally from April 29 to June 1, 2022
- Special highlight: the Award Ceremony will take place on-site on June 21, 2022, during automatica at the Messe München!
HOW IT WORKS:
- Robothon® againwill focus on single-arm robot manipulation
- The Grand Challenge 2022: disassembly and sorting of e-waste
- The competition is free of charge
- Up to 20 selected teams can participate (2-4 members)
- All roboticists (academic and young professionals) are encouraged to apply
- Teams will need to provide their own robot to complete the challenge remotely
- Each team will receive an internet connected competition task board by mail
- The processing period of 1 month starts from receipt of the competition scorecard
- Team performances will be evaluated by the Grand Challenge Jury
- Prize money awaits the finalists!
HAVEN’T SIGNED UP YET? Apply as a team until March 31, 2022, and visit our website www.robothon-grand-challenge.com to learn more.
Know someone who should participate? Please help spread the word!
Feel free to email us with any questions at [email protected].
With kind regards,
The Robothon® Team
Barbara Schilling & Peter So (Technical Leader)
Maker Faires 2022: Termine, Teilnahme und Tickets
Die Maker-Szene trifft sich wieder
Hannover, 3. Februar 2022 – In diesem Jahr gibt es frischen Input aus der Maker-Community wieder live und in Farbe: Vier Maker Faires sind für 2022 geplant. Deutschlands größte Maker Faire findet am 10. und 11. September in Hannover statt. Erstmals gibt es das Format für Innovation und Macherkultur auch im Süden Deutschlands. Maker, Enthusiasten, Kreative und Erfinder treffen sich im Sommer zur Maker Faire Baden-Württemberg. Auch in Dortmund und Chemnitz stellen Maker ihre spannenden Ideen vor. Die Ticketshops sind eröffnet und die Calls for Makers laufen.
Los geht’s im Westen: Auf der 5. Maker Faire Ruhr in Dortmund werden am 26. und 27. März in der DASA, Deutschlands größter Arbeitsweltausstellung, wieder ungewöhnliche Experimente und ziemlich schräge Projekte von IT bis Design präsentiert.
Danach folgt die Premiere im Süden Deutschlands: Die erste Maker Faire Baden-Württemberg startet am 25. und 26. Juni, auf dem Gelände des RTunlimited in Reutlingen. In Kooperation mit dem Innoport in der Metropolregion Stuttgart stellen Maker gemeinsam mit Technologiepartnern ihre zukunftsweisenden Ideen und MINT-Projekte vor. „Wir verlassen den Standort Berlin und wollen zusätzlich zur Maker Faire Hannover im Norden die Maker Faire Baden-Württemberg als zweite große Leitveranstaltung in Deutschland für die Maker-Community aufbauen“, erklärt Anna Ludwig, Besuchermanagerin Maker Faire.
Für den 9. und 10. Juli sollten sich alle Wissbegierigen die Maker Faire Sachsen vormerken: Chemnitz ist nicht nur Kulturhauptstadt 2025, hier präsentieren inspirierende Maker jedes Jahr aufs Neue, wie kreativ man mit Wissenschaft und Technik umgehen kann.
Höhepunkt ist dann die Maker Faire Hannover: Am 10. und 11. September wandelt sich das Hannover Congress Centrum mit seinem idyllischen Außengelände bereits zum achten Mal in einen Schauplatz kreativer Ideen. „Dieses Jahr wird es internationaler und zweisprachig!“, sagt Daniel Rohlfing, Leiter Events und Produktmanagement. „Wir laden Maker aus der ganzen Welt zu uns ein, ihre Genialität bei uns unter Beweis zu stellen.“ Die Maker Faire Hannover hat sich in der niedersächsischen Landeshauptstadt als „Must-see-Event“ etabliert und zog in der Vergangenheit rund 20.000 Besucherinnen und Besucher an.
Ab sofort können für die beiden Leitveranstaltungen, die Maker Faire Baden-Württemberg und die Maker Faire Hannover, Tickets gebucht werden. Auch die Calls for Makers laufen auf Hochtouren. Interessierte Maker können sich für einen Stand, einen Workshop oder Vortrag anmelden. Auch Unternehmen haben noch Zeit, sich für eine Ausstellungsteilnahme zu entscheiden.
Oxford University’s Robotics Institute Win Prestigious International Exploration Challenge
Robotics researchers from the Oxford Universities Robotics Institute, have contributed to the winning team, Team CERBERUS, at the DARPA Subterranean Challenge – coming away with the top prize of $2m. The finals of the competition concluded on Friday in an underground cavern in Louisville, Kentucky with 8 international teams going head-to-head.
Underground settings present significant challenges for civilian first responders, with unknow hazards and conditions that can vary drastically or change quickly. The DARPA Subterranean or “SubT” Challenge was established to stimulate new approaches to rapidly map, navigate, and search underground environments during time-sensitive disaster response scenarios.
The challenge took place over three years and was designed to push the boundaries of autonomous robotic technology. The task was to explore an underground environment and to locate objects such as mannequins – simulating injured humans, – backpacks, phones and tools.
‘We are delighted to have done so well. Contributing to CERBERUS has really accelerated our research. After 3 years of preparation, it was fantastic to test it in the DARPA’s complex underground maze’. Said Prof. Maurice Fallon, lead of the Oxford University team.
Points were awarded when an object was correctly located. Challenges included locomotion over rough terrain, accurate mapping, and coordination of the robot team by a single operator from outside the test location. The test location blended aspects of cave, tunnel and urban subways and was often unlit, filled with smoke or on a steep slope.
CERBERUS*, deployed a team of four quadruped robots, called ANYmals, as well as autonomous aerial vehicles in the competition organized by the US Government research agency DARPA.
‘In the underground environment there are so many challenges from lighting and communications to the slipperiness of terrain itself. This demanded a whole range of breakthroughs by our team’. Said Dr. Marco Camurri, Senior researcher, Oxford University.
In the end CERBERUS tied with a team from CSIRO – a research lab based in Brisbane, Australia – winning only on a tiebreaker. Other teams included representatives from top universities such as University of Colorado, Boulder (in 3rd place), Carnegie Mellon University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Jet Propulsion Laboratory (part of NASA).
It is envisaged that the technologies will impact on disaster response, environmental monitoring, industrial inspection, and construction sectors.