Wanted: Robot. Willing To Pay $2M

Written by Jessica L. Tozer

Hey you, robot enthusiast!

Do you want two million dollars?  Can you build amazing robots?  If so, have we got the most awesome contest  FOR YOU!  No, seriously.  This isn’t the premise for a 1980′s SciFi action flick.  This is for real, folks.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)  is offering millions to the person who creates a robot designed to handle disasters of epic proportion.  The kind humans can’t handle, no matter how noble or determined we are.  No, not the asteriod-hurling-to-Earth type (although truthfully that would currently fall into the things-we-can’t-handle-no-seriously-Bruce-Willis-isn’t-going-to-save-us category).

All epic movie montages aside, DARPA really is looking for robots that can handle things that are too dangerous for humans, like the meltdown at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi  power plant last year.

This is more than just the work of a machine.  This robot has to go above and beyond the call of autonomous duty in order to handle the kind of crisis we’re talking about.  As awesome as that sounds, it’s not quite as unprecedented as you might think.

The truth is, the use of robots in serious situations is nothing new.

Robots are used by U.S. military forces as assistants for service members in diffusing improvised explosive devices.  That’s not to say that the current robot cavalcade can’t be improved upon, and I guess that concept is what brings us to this blog post today.

True innovation in robotics technology could result in much more effective robots that could better intervene in high-risk situations.  This could save human lives, and help contain the impact of natural and man-made disasters.  So, are we headed to a new age of human-robot coexistence?  The handy helper AIs who come at the touch of a button?  Possibly even reach new technological heights with our  new autonomous friends?

I immediately think “helpful robots in space” (Robby the Robot  style), but maybe I’m getting ahead of myself.

As iconic symbols of the future, robots rank high with flying cars and starships, but basic robots are already in use in emergency response, industry, defense, healthcare and education. DARPA plans to offer a $2 million prize to whomever can help push the state-of-the-art in robotics beyond today’s capabilities in support of the DoD’s disaster recovery mission.

DARPA’s Robotics Challenge  will launch in October 2012.  Teams are sought to compete in challenges involving staged disaster-response scenarios in which robots will have to successfully navigate a series of physical tasks corresponding to anticipated, real-world disaster-response requirements.

The DARPA Robotics Challenge consists of both robotics hardware and software development tasks. It is DARPA’s position that achieving true innovation in robotics – and thus success in this challenge – will require contributions from communities beyond traditional robotics developers.

The DARPA Robotics Challenge supports the National Robotics Initiative  launched by President Barack Obama in June 2011.

To answer questions regarding the Robotics Challenge and provide an opportunity for interested parties to connect, DARPA will hold a virtual Proposers’ Day workshop today, April 16, 2012.

This online workshop will introduce interested communities to the effort, explain the mechanics of this DARPA challenge, and encourage collaborative arrangements among potential performers from a wide range of backgrounds.  More information on the BAA and Proposers’ Day is available here .

So whether you’re just looking for a reason to build the world’s next greatest robot (and really, who isn’t?), or you just want to make the world a safer place for us humans, I’d check out this challenge.  I look forward to seeing the innovation and creativity that can come from this.

I’d also like to be the first blogger to officially request an interview with the two million dollar robot.  The robot, not the winner (although I *suppose* the winner can come, too).  I want to get on his/her good side.  You never know when your AI connections are going to come in handy, and if he/she is going to be saving humanity someday, I’d like to be on a first name basis.

Jessica L. Tozer is a blogger for DoDLive and Armed With Science.  She is also an avid science fiction fan and now slightly more paranoid about robot takeovers than she was before.  Just a little bit.