RoboticsRobot marathon announced -- 26.2 miles to robotic glory
Japan’s Vstone company has announced its Robotic Challenge: the bipedal bots will race around a 100 meter track for 422 laps, either remotely controlled or operating completely autonomously, by following a painted line; the contest is unlikely to feature sprinting or even jogging competitors; rather, this race will go to the strong and steady robot that can survive the repeated wear and tear on its servos
Training for the robo-marathon // Source: popsci.com
Robots have barely learned how to walk, but Vstone is already pushing them to run. The Japanese robot research and manufacturing firm has announced it is putting together the world’s first marathon for mankind’s mechanical offspring. The Robot Challenge will have bipedal bots racing around a 100 meter track for 422 laps either remotely controlled or operating completely autonomously by following a painted line. The contest is unlikely to feature sprinting or even jogging competitors. This race will go to the strong and steady robot that can survive the repeated wear and tear on its servos. Fast or slow, the Robot Challenge marathon marks a step in the evolution of amateur level contestsas it will feature robots that have the staying power really to serve the human race.
Along with their announcement for the Robot Challenge, Vstone released a concept video. It is very short, just enough footage to give developers an idea of what they would need to work on. Note that this demo track is far from being 100 meters long.
The robot shown in the demo is Vstone’s own Robovie-PC, developed in cooperation with ATR. Robovie-PC is a robot that is also a computer, hence the name. It features a 1.6 GHz processor, twenty degrees of freedom, and a 1.3 megapixel camera in its head. That latest sensor is likely how the robot is able to stay on track during its test run. Retailing for around $4,500, Robovie-PC probably represents a typical investment expected for contestants in the Robot Challenge. You do not have to be a major research institution to afford such a setup, but you can’t exactly be a first-time competitor either.
Singularity Hub reports that on the 42.2 km (26.2 mile) journey, it is expected that many robots will have break downs. Vstone allows for you to replace damaged parts (though not the entire robot) and will use the total time (travel plus maintenance) as the competing score. More or less like robot NASCAR.
In a world where the majority of amateur robot competitions involve bots pushing each other in “wrestling matches” or kicking balls in soccer matches, Robot Challenge could be something novel. You are not trying to create a new fighting skill, or fancy new athletic maneuvers, you are just trying to get your robot to walk for miles without breaking down. Maybe this is more mundane than we are used to, but it should be more exciting than most of the other contests out there. As Singularity Hub notes, if we want robots to come work in our homes and do our dirty work, it will be reliability that is the top concern. .All major robot research firms perform these types of endurance trials, it is time they got the same attention in amateur-level robot competitions.
