The Next Generation of Disaster Response Robots
The Next Generation of Disaster Response Robots
November 12, 2012
Homeland & Cyber Security, Robotics & High-Tech
The Times of Israel — A team of researchers from BGU were invited to participate in the prestigious Robotics Challenge sponsored by DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency), an agency of the U.S. Department of Defense responsible for the development of new technologies for use by the military.
This challenge is focused on developing the control software for powering the next generation of disaster response robots. These robots are designed to go places too dangerous for humans to go, such as disaster zones, both natural and man-made.
BGU’s team “Robil” is one of eleven that will develop software for the GFE Platform being developed by Boston Dynamics, Inc., based on its Atlas humanoid robot platform and modified to meet the needs of the DARPA Robotics Challenge.
The only foreign university team invited to participate, the Robil team was awarded $375,000 to develop the software over the next nine months.
The team is being led by Prof. Hugo Guterman of BGU’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, who is also a leading member of the Homeland Security Institute at BGU.
Governments, universities, and corporations around the world are putting significant resources in developing robots to deal with the aftermath of floods, mining collapses, oil spills, nuclear accidents, and other industrial and natural disasters.
Read more on The Times of Israel website >>
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