The DARPA Robotics Challenge Was a Bust

[Divernan]

A scientist friend connected with Carnegie-Mellon's Robotics program just posted this link on her FB page, and it was all new to me. When I think of the vast "news" coverage about butt implants & the Kardashians, compared to the scintilla of coverage of this event - well, Einstein wept! This article is absolutely fascinating, and gives you a catch-up look at DARPA's efforts with these competitions. Unless you're someone who ridicules science, give it a read!

http://www.popsci.com/darpa-robotics-challenge-was-bust-why-darpa-needs-try-again

It's been close to a month since the DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC) wrapped up. That's time enough to face facts. The biggest and most well-funded international robotics competition in years was a failure. That doesn't feel good to write. The DRC was a huge undertaking, spanning years and costing millions. The competition had a noble goal—the development of robots that can better respond to disasters—and it attracted many of the world's smartest and most accomplished roboticists.

"Worst of all, it failed to catch or at least hold the attention of the general public. The event was webcast, but not televised. News outlets with a focus on tech and science covered the finals, but not enough to pique the interest of more mainstream media. Years of work and tens of millions of funding culminated in an event that no one appeared to care about, despite the fact that it featured walking, driving, tool-grabbing humanoid robots.

"This is a shamelessly unscientific survey, but no one among my family or friends knew that the DRC Finals were happening. That includes my brother, who works at NASA, and my 11-year-old nephew, who's in an engineering program sponsored by defense contractor Lockheed Martin, the defense firm that had a team in the DRC. When the competition was over, the only person in my social circle—which is rife with nerds—who had read or seen anything about it was my father-in-law. His sole takeaway: the Pentagon held a contest where a bunch of robots fell down.

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