Category Archives: Field Robotics

CHIMP Wins Third Place at DARPA Robotics Challenge

CHIMP, a four-limbed robot designed and built by Carnegie Mellon University’s Tartan Rescue Team, finished third and won $500,000 June 6 at the DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC), a two-day event that pitted 24 of the world’s most advanced robots against each other in a test of their ability to respond to disasters.

During its best run, the robot engaged the enthusiastic audience as it overcame several mishaps and missteps to complete all eight of the possible tasks in 55 minutes, 15 seconds — good enough to put the team in first place on the first day of competition.

CHIMP was the only robot of the many that fell during the competition that was able to get back on its feet unassisted.

“Our team operating the robot kept their cool,” said Tony Stentz, team leader and research professor. “They managed to get CHIMP to recover and complete all of the tasks. It says a lot about the robot and a lot about the people. It means there’s great promise for this technology.”

 

Students Will Flight Test Sensor Package Designed To Model Surface Pits on Moon

A team of Carnegie Mellon University undergraduates is heading to California’s Mojave Desert this spring to flight test a sensor package they developed for analyzing large pits in the surface of the moon or Mars.

The flight tests will be conducted aboard a reusable vertical-takeoff, vertical-landing XA-0.1-B rocket, called “Xombie,” built and operated by Masten Space Systems. The three flights – two tethered and one free flight – will take place at the Mojave Air and Space Port and are funded through the Undergraduate Student Instrument Program (USIP) of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate and the Flight Opportunities Program of NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate.

The hardware and software package developed by the students would be used for a robotic lunar mission to the Lacus Mortis region of the moon planned by Astrobotic Technology and Carnegie Mellon. Orbital imaging suggests this region contains a pit – also known as a skylight – that may serve as an entrance to a cave.

As the landing craft flies over the pit, the sensor package would use computer vision to build a 3-D model of the depression. Upon landing, a CMU-developed robot, called Andy, would then explore the pit.

The team includes Neal Bhasin, a senior computer science student; Kerry Snyder, a senior computer science and robotics major; Oliver Daids, a sophomore computer science major; Rick Shanor, a senior in mechanical engineering and robotics; Ashrith Balakumar, a sophomore mechanical engineering major; and Edward Nolan and Brent Strysko, both seniors majoring in electrical and computer engineering.

International Competitors Join CMU Teams in DARPA Robotics Challenge

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has qualified 14 additional teams, including competitors from Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, China and South Korea, to join teams from Carnegie Mellon University and elsewhere in the DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC) Finals, June 5-6 in Pomona, Calif.

Tartan Rescue, a team fielded by CMU’s National Robotics Engineering Center, and Team WPI-CMU, a team based at Worcester Polytechnic Institute that includes CMU Robotics Professor Chris Atkeson, were among 11 teams that previously qualified for the DRC Finals based on their performance at the DRC Trials in December 2013.

The teams will be competing for one of three cash prizes, totaling $3.5 million, based on how their robots perform in response to a simulated natural or man-made disaster. Robots will have one hour to perform a series of tasks, such as driving a vehicle, climbing stairs and using power tools. DARPA also will include a “surprise” task.

Unlike the earlier Trials, all of the robots will operate only on battery power, will communicate wirelessly with their operators and will operate without a safety harness, placing them in danger of falls.

CMU Lunar Rover Wins GLXP Milestone Prize

The Google Lunar XPRIZE has awarded Andy, a four-wheeled lunar rover designed and built by Carnegie Mellon University, with a Milestone Prize for mobility. It is one of three Milestone Prizes awarded to CMU and Pittsburgh’s Astrobotic Technology, which have partnered in pursuit of the XPrize.

Milestone Prizes were awarded in three categories: mobility, lander and imaging, with Astrobotic winning for its Griffin lander and its imaging technology. A total of nine Milestone Prizes were awarded in the three categories; the Astrobotic/CMU teams was the only one to win prizes in each category.

“Andy has proven to be a tough, smart, sure-footed machine,” said William “Red” Whittaker, professor of robotics, who led a team of about 50 students, faculty and staff members from across the CMU campus to create the rover. “We’ve shaken it to simulate launch forces, driven it through moon dirt and exposed it to the extremes of lunar temperatures among many, many tests. Our team and our machine faced a rigorous evaluation by world-class judges and came out on top.”

CMU’s mobility prize included a $500,000 cash award. Astrobotic received $1 million for its lander win and $250,000 for the imaging category, for a total of $1.75 million in winnings.

 

Carnegie Mellon Unveils Lunar Rover “Andy”

Carnegie Mellon University has unveiled Andy, a four-wheeled robot designed to scramble up steep slopes and survive the temperature swings and high radiation encountered while exploring the moon’s pits, caves and polar ice.

“Every extraterrestrial robot carries some DNA from Carnegie Mellon, but Andy would be the first true CMU robot to make the leap from Earth,” said William “Red” Whittaker, professor of robotics and director of the Field Robotics Center. “This is the culmination of lots of work by lots of people and is the next step toward Carnegie Mellon becoming a spacefaring university.”

Andy, which derives its moniker from university namesakes Andrew Carnegie and Andrew Mellon, was developed by a largely student workforce and drew on expertise and resources from across the university, including the School of Computer Science, the College of Engineering, the College of Fine Arts and the Mellon College of Science.

The robot is Carnegie Mellon’s contribution to an effort led by Pittsburgh’s Astrobotic Technology to land a robot on the moon and win the $20 million-plus Google Lunar XPrize.

DARPA Selects Tartan Rescue Team For Robotics Challenge Funding

The Tartan Rescue Team from Carnegie Mellon University’s National Robotics Engineering Center ranked third among teams competing in the DARPA Robotics Challenge Trials this weekend in Homestead, Fla., and was selected by the agency as one of eight teams eligible for DARPA funding to prepare for next December’s Finals.

The team’s four-limbed CMU Highly Intelligent Mobile Platform, or CHIMP, robot scored 18 out of a possible 32 points during the two-day Trials. It demonstrated its ability to perform such tasks as removing debris, cutting a
hole through a wall and closing a series of valves.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is sponsoring the DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC) to spur development of robotic technologies that could be used to respond to natural or man-made disasters in environments engineered for humans, such as the Fukushima nuclear power plant crisis of 2011.

Sixteen teams competed at the Trials. DARPA on Saturday announced it would enter into funding negotiations with Tartan Rescue and seven other teams, who tallied the highest scores during the Trials. Gill Pratt, DARPA’s program manager for the DRC, said the agency has $8 million budgeted for the teams and intends to spread the money evenly between them.