DARPA Robotics Challenge Finals 2014: Google's SCHAFT Will Be Self-Funded, More Competitors Added

The DARPA Robotics Challenge Finals 2014 has announced Google's SCHAFT robot will compete in the self-funded track. This move frees up funding for two more teams to the DRC Finals 2014, while a third team will compete as part of the self-funded track D. On March 21, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) announced Google's SCHAFT robot will switch to the unfunded Track D for the DRC Finals 2014, which allows for two more teams to compete in the robotics challenge. The robotics teams will compete for a grand prize of $2 million. Team THOR will use the DARPA funds, up to $500,000 for each team, to continue work on the Tactical Harzardous Operations Robot (THOR) at two universities. One team will continue work on THOR at the University of California Los Angeles while a second team will be stationed at the Robotics & Mechanisms Laboratory (RoMeLa) at Virginia Tech.