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At the 2015 DARPA Robotics Challenge Finals, robots built by teams from around the world are preparing to face off in a competition that tests their ability to assist humans during a simulated natural or manmade disaster.
The competition, funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the military's R&D branch, takes place Friday and Saturday (June 5 and 6) at Fairplex in Pomona, California.
Here are some photos of the bots strutting their stuff during the competition finals and the months leading up to them.
Carnegie Mellon University's CHIMP robot takes a "walk" on two legs, which roll on treads like a tank, during a test event. (Image credit: DARPA)
KAIST operates tool
South Korean team KAIST's robot, DRC-HUBO, operates a tool during a test even. (Image credit: DARPA)
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KAIST behind the wheel
Team KAIST's robot prepares to drive a Polaris vehicle during testing, a task that will be part of the finals in Pomona, California. (Image credit: DARPA)
WPI-CMU prepares for stairs
The robot from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and Carnegie Mellon University readies itself to climb stairs, another competition task. (Image credit: DARPA)
Momaro removing debris
Momaro, the robot from Germany's University of Bonn, clears debris from a simulated disaster site in a test event. (Image credit: DARPA)
IHMC tackling rubble
Florida's Institute of Human and Machine Cognition team robot, Running Man, makes its way over a field of rubble during a test event. (Image credit: DARPA)
Tanya was a staff writer for Live Science from 2013 to 2015, covering a wide array of topics, ranging from neuroscience to robotics to strange/cute animals. She received a graduate certificate in science communication from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and a bachelor of science in biomedical engineering from Brown University. She has previously written for Science News, Wired, The Santa Cruz Sentinel, the radio show Big Picture Science and other places. Tanya has lived on a tropical island, witnessed volcanic eruptions and flown in zero gravity (without losing her lunch!). To find out what her latest project is, you can visit her website.
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