DARPA Robotics Challenge

"The DARPA Robotics Challenge program will help directly meet these needs by developing robotic technology for disaster response operations. This technology will improve the performance of robots that operate in the rough terrain and austere conditions characteristic of disasters, and use vehicles and tools commonly available in populated areas. This technology will also work in ways easily understood by subject matter experts untrained in the operation of robots, and be governed by intuitive controls that require little training."

Link to DARPA DRC website.

DRC 2013

"In December of 2013, teams with both the GFE robot and custom robots developed for the competition will participate in the first physical competition, the 2013 DARPA Robotics Challenge. In the Challenge, robots will compete with each other performing disaster response operations in a scenario that will likely include the following sequence of events:

1. Drive a utility vehicle at the site
2. Travel dismounted across rubble
3. Remove debris blocking an entryway
4. Open a door and enter a building
5. Climb an industrial ladder and traverse an industrial walkway
6. Use a power tool to break through a barrier
7. Locate and close a valve near a leaking pipe
8. Attach a connector such as a wire harness or fire hose

High-performing teams will be provided with continued funding to support participation in the final challenge even. Additional rules about the 2013 DARPA Robotics Challenge will be made available during kick-off, with detailed rules available in the months leading up to the competition."

Link to the competition page.

Virgina Tech's entry Thor (Tactical Hazardous Operations Robot) .

Virgina Tech is one of the Track A teams. Link to the IEEE article on the other track A teams.

 Link to Virgina Techs press release.

Track B teams are:

• Lockheed Martin – Advanced Technology Laboratories
• RE2
• University of Kansas
• Carnegie Mellon University
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• TRAC Labs
• University of Washington
• Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC)
• Ben-Gurion University
• NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory 
• TORC Robotics

The track C and D teams are still open.

Track C (open through February 2013)
A competitor may, at their own expense, develop control software only (no hardware development), and compete to be one of the top performing teams in simulation. DARPA will provide cloud computing resources for up to one hundred (100) teams this way, and may exercise the right to provide resources for additional teams as necessary.

At the end of the Virtual Robotics Challenge competition, up to six (6) of the top performing teams from either Track B or Track C will be provided a GFE robot and hardware maintenance support, along with funding for continued software development.
To register for Track C, click here.
 
Track D (open through October 2013)
A competitor may develop a complete system, both hardware and software, at their own expense and enter it into competition. Such entries must pass initial qualification testing, but will otherwise compete on an equal footing with the DARPA-supported efforts.
To register for Track D, click here.

There is also a open software DRC Simulator:

Link to download site.