These Robot Legs Were Made For Walkin’

"They call me...PETMAN." (No really, they call him Petman)

Remember the $2 million-dollar robot contest I was telling you about a couple of months ago?

Well check out these babies.

This video shows versions of DARPA and Boston Dynamics robots climbing stairs, walking on a treadmill and doing pushups.

A modified platform resembling these robots is expected to be used as government-funded equipment (GFE) for performers in Tracks B and C of the DARPA Robotics Challenge. The GFE Platform is expected to have two arms, two legs, a torso and a head, and will be physically capable of performing all of the tasks required for the disaster response scenarios scheduled in the Challenge.

However, despite the appearance of the robots in the video, the Challenge is decidedly not exclusive to humanoid robot solutions.

Any designs are welcome provided they are compatible with shared human-robot environments, compatible with human tools, and compatible with human operators so that a human without expertise in robotics can give commands and confidently anticipate the response.

 It is DARPA’s position that achieving true innovation in robotics, and thus success in the Robotics Challenge, will require contributions from communities beyond traditional robotics developers.  Hardware, software, modeling and gaming developers are sought to link with emergency response and various science communities to devise novel solutions that enable robots to respond to disasters according to the tasks laid out in DARPA’s announcement for the Challenge.