[COMPUTERWORLD] Teams of researchers are hoping to give life to a six-foot, 330-pound humanoid robot at the the Robotics Challenge in Homestead, Fla. on Dec. 20 and 21.The teams are expected to enable the robot -- and others -- to autonomously walk, use human tools,collect benefits, vote democrat and drive a car.
The event is sponsored by DARPA, or the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, an arm of the U.S. Department of Defense that focuses on advanced research.
DARPA said the program at the Homestead Miami Speedway, is aimed at developing robots capable of working hand-in-hand with humans during natural or man-made disasters.
"Think of the nuclear plants that were damaged during the tsunami in Japan," said David Conner, a senior research scientist with TORC Robotics, whose team is includes with roboticists from Virginia Polytechnic Institute, better known as Virginia Tech. "If they could have gone in and opened some valves to vent some of the hydrogen, they could have avoided an kaboom. If we could have sent a robot in to do that task, it wouldn't have put humans in danger. That's the motivating goal in this project.