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US Robots Win Big Down Under

Posted by timothy on from the but-did-the-teams-afterward-get-bombed dept.

An anonymous reader writes "US teams dominated the MAGIC 2010 autonomous robotics competition, mapping and neutralizing simulated bombs at the 250,000 sq. meter Royal Showgrounds in Adelaide, Australia. Leading the pack with a team of fourteen robots was Team Michigan, principally from the University of Michigan, followed by the University of Pennsylvania, and RASR. This contest marks the beginning of practical robots that not only think for themselves, but also actively coordinate with a human commander."

5 of 60 comments (clear)

  1. No wonder the US robots won by Freaky+Spook · · Score: 5, Funny

    All the Australian robots realised they were in Adelaide and were quite happy to let the place get blown to bits.

    1. Re:No wonder the US robots won by davidbofinger · · Score: 4, Funny

      All the Australian robots realised they were in Adelaide and were quite happy to let the place get blown to bits.

      Nonsense! Robots love Adelaide. You didn't think the place was designed for humans, did you? The city's laid out in a nice rational square, the nasty rust-making river is damn-near non-existent and nothing ever happens. It's the sort of place an AI can sit back, chill out and let its hard drive spin down because it knows it won't be needing to make note of anything.

  2. Congratulations... by Willbur · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Congrats to the teams that did well. I know a bunch of Australian teams that looked into entering and decided not to because:

        a) It was an engineering challenge more than a research challenge,
        b) It was closer to that ethical line of making killer robots than, say, the DARPA Grand Challenge autonomous vehicle competition,
        c) There was an extremely compressed timeline to actually make anything, and
        d) The prize is mostly prestige. i.e. It wouldn't come anywhere near the development costs even for the teams that won.

    So, it was a less than perfect competition. But that also means that the teams that did well in it did well under difficult conditions, so good for them. :)

  3. Kinect vs. $5k Hokuyo UTM-30LX Laser RangeFinder by PatPending · · Score: 4, Interesting

    They used the Hokuyo UTM-30LX Laser RangeFinder (LIDAR) which has a MSRP of $5,600 and a 30m range (270 degree FOV). I wonder if the Kinect would be a low-cost/low-resolution alternative in some environments (e.g., urban)? And at $150 each, one could use three or four Kinects for a wide field of view.

    --
    What one fool can do, another can. (Ancient Simian Proverb)
  4. Re:I love robots by mcgrew · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Robots won't be nearly as agile and fast as a human running for his life can be

    You can outrun a motorcycle when you're on foot? Robots don't have to be anthropomorphic, and usually aren't.

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