/ News
Team DRC-Hubo Prepares for DARPA Robotics Challenge
Later this year, some of the world's most advanced humanoid robots—and their human masters—will gather for the DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC), a competition where the robots will attempt to perform a series of complex tasks in a disaster response scenario. The highly anticipated event is still eight months away, but teams will also have to show that their robots can perform adequately in a computer simulation, which is coming up soon, in June. Teams are working frantically on their robots and simulations, and while some groups operate in total secrecy, others like Team DRC-Hubo are eager to show off their progress.
The DRC will consist of eight tasks, including some that are highly complex, such as driving a vehicle or climbing a ladder. Any one of these activities would be difficult to prepare for individually, let alone altogether. Which means that, if the robots prove successful at even some of the tasks, the DRC will be considered a major milestone for robotics. It will also serve to showcase the practicality of the humanoid form-factor, which some have dismissed as expensive research projects unfit for real-world use.
Team DRC-Hubo is a consortium of several universities, including Drexel University and KAIST's HuboLab(and its spin-off RAINBOW Co., which markets its robot technology). Early this year, the team had released a rather nifty computer animation starring Hubo as a disaster response robot in the year 2020. This week the HuboLab researchers have published the first videos showing their robot engaging in DRC-related activities.
In the first video we can see a heavily modified version of KAIST's Hubo 2 robot midway up a ladder. The robot's arms have been elongated to better meet the challenge requirements. And, it would appear, the team plans to have their robot climb the ladder backwards (because, you know, that's not much of a problem when you are a robot).
Next, we see that those funky-looking arms are compliant, and how that will help it while driving the utility vehicle. The DRC begins with the robots getting into a Polaris Ranger EV and driving it to a destination while avoiding obstacles. If it's a bumpy ride and the robot is jostled about, the natural give in its arm joints will help to keep its hands firmly affixed to the wheel without the risk of breaking the arm into pieces.
Clearly, there's still much more left to do. The Ranger doesn't have any doors, which should make it easier for the robots to get into the driver's seat, but it could be a bit of a tight squeeze—actually getting in and out will prove to be difficult in its own right.
As enticing as these videos are, they are only the tip of the iceberg, which makes one wonder if the teams will really be ready come December? Consider for example the PR events put on by Japanese automakers, where advanced robots like Honda's Asimo or Toyota's HSR promote their brand and technological prowess. Every action is carefully choreographed in advance, and unseen operators pull the strings behind the curtain, yet things still can (and do) go wrong.
Now imagine all the myriad problems that may arise over the course of the DRC, which will be far more complex and demanding than a pristine showroom stage. And there's only eight months left before showtime! Can it get any more exciting?
Source: http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/humanoids/team-drc-hubo-darpa-robotics-challenge
/ About us
Founded by Russian entrepreneur Dmitry Itskov in February 2011 with the participation of leading Russian specialists in the field of neural interfaces, robotics, artificial organs and systems.
The main goals of the 2045 Initiative: the creation and realization of a new strategy for the development of humanity which meets global civilization challenges; the creation of optimale conditions promoting the spiritual enlightenment of humanity; and the realization of a new futuristic reality based on 5 principles: high spirituality, high culture, high ethics, high science and high technologies.
The main science mega-project of the 2045 Initiative aims to create technologies enabling the transfer of a individual’s personality to a more advanced non-biological carrier, and extending life, including to the point of immortality. We devote particular attention to enabling the fullest possible dialogue between the world’s major spiritual traditions, science and society.
A large-scale transformation of humanity, comparable to some of the major spiritual and sci-tech revolutions in history, will require a new strategy. We believe this to be necessary to overcome existing crises, which threaten our planetary habitat and the continued existence of humanity as a species. With the 2045 Initiative, we hope to realize a new strategy for humanity's development, and in so doing, create a more productive, fulfilling, and satisfying future.
The "2045" team is working towards creating an international research center where leading scientists will be engaged in research and development in the fields of anthropomorphic robotics, living systems modeling and brain and consciousness modeling with the goal of transferring one’s individual consciousness to an artificial carrier and achieving cybernetic immortality.
An annual congress "The Global Future 2045" is organized by the Initiative to give platform for discussing mankind's evolutionary strategy based on technologies of cybernetic immortality as well as the possible impact of such technologies on global society, politics and economies of the future.
Future prospects of "2045" Initiative for society
2015-2020
The emergence and widespread use of affordable android "avatars" controlled by a "brain-computer" interface. Coupled with related technologies “avatars’ will give people a number of new features: ability to work in dangerous environments, perform rescue operations, travel in extreme situations etc.
Avatar components will be used in medicine for the rehabilitation of fully or partially disabled patients giving them prosthetic limbs or recover lost senses.
2020-2025
Creation of an autonomous life-support system for the human brain linked to a robot, ‘avatar’, will save people whose body is completely worn out or irreversibly damaged. Any patient with an intact brain will be able to return to a fully functioning bodily life. Such technologies will greatly enlarge the possibility of hybrid bio-electronic devices, thus creating a new IT revolution and will make all kinds of superimpositions of electronic and biological systems possible.
2030-2035
Creation of a computer model of the brain and human consciousness with the subsequent development of means to transfer individual consciousness onto an artificial carrier. This development will profoundly change the world, it will not only give everyone the possibility of cybernetic immortality but will also create a friendly artificial intelligence, expand human capabilities and provide opportunities for ordinary people to restore or modify their own brain multiple times. The final result at this stage can be a real revolution in the understanding of human nature that will completely change the human and technical prospects for humanity.
2045
This is the time when substance-independent minds will receive new bodies with capacities far exceeding those of ordinary humans. A new era for humanity will arrive! Changes will occur in all spheres of human activity – energy generation, transportation, politics, medicine, psychology, sciences, and so on.
Today it is hard to imagine a future when bodies consisting of nanorobots will become affordable and capable of taking any form. It is also hard to imagine body holograms featuring controlled matter. One thing is clear however: humanity, for the first time in its history, will make a fully managed evolutionary transition and eventually become a new species. Moreover, prerequisites for a large-scale expansion into outer space will be created as well.
Key elements of the project in the future
• International social movement
• social network immortal.me
• charitable foundation "Global Future 2045" (Foundation 2045)
• scientific research centre "Immortality"
• business incubator
• University of "Immortality"
• annual award for contribution to the realization of the project of "Immortality”.
/ Follow us at:
/ Contact:
For additional information, partnerships and sponsorship, contact:
info@2045.com
Media requesting information and interviews, contact PR@2045.com
LinkedIn
LiveJournal
Google
Twitter
Facebook
Я.ру
ВКонтакте
Mail.ru