Arkin, Ronald C.
Heterogeneous robot teams with unified perception and autonomy: How Team CSIRO Data61 tied for the top score at the DARPA Subterranean Challenge
Kottege, Navinda, Williams, Jason, Tidd, Brendan, Talbot, Fletcher, Steindl, Ryan, Cox, Mark, Frousheger, Dennis, Hines, Thomas, Pitt, Alex, Tam, Benjamin, Wood, Brett, Hanson, Lauren, Surdo, Katrina Lo, Molnar, Thomas, Wildie, Matt, Stepanas, Kazys, Catt, Gavin, Tychsen-Smith, Lachlan, Penfold, Dean, Overs, Leslie, Ramezani, Milad, Khosoussi, Kasra, Kendoul, Farid, Wagner, Glenn, Palmer, Duncan, Manderson, Jack, Medek, Corey, O'Brien, Matthew, Chen, Shengkang, Arkin, Ronald C.
The DARPA Subterranean Challenge was designed for competitors to develop and deploy teams of autonomous robots to explore difficult unknown underground environments. Categorised in to human-made tunnels, underground urban infrastructure and natural caves, each of these subdomains had many challenging elements for robot perception, locomotion, navigation and autonomy. These included degraded wireless communication, poor visibility due to smoke, narrow passages and doorways, clutter, uneven ground, slippery and loose terrain, stairs, ledges, overhangs, dripping water, and dynamic obstacles that move to block paths among others. In the Final Event of this challenge held in September 2021, the course consisted of all three subdomains. The task was for the robot team to perform a scavenger hunt for a number of pre-defined artefacts within a limited time frame. Only one human supervisor was allowed to communicate with the robots once they were in the course. Points were scored when accurate detections and their locations were communicated back to the scoring server. A total of 8 teams competed in the finals held at the Mega Cavern in Louisville, KY, USA. This article describes the systems deployed by Team CSIRO Data61 that tied for the top score and won second place at the event.
The 1997 AAAI Mobile Robot Competition and Exhibition
Arkin, Ronald C.
In July 1997, the Sixth Annual Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) Mobile Robot Competition and Exhibition was held. The competition consisted of four new events: (1) Find Life on Mars; (2) Find the Remote; (3) Home Vacuum; and (4) Hors d'Oeuvres, Anyone? The robot exhibition was the largest in AAAI history. This article presents the history, motivation, and contributions for the event.
The 1997 AAAI Mobile Robot Competition and Exhibition
Arkin, Ronald C.
In July 1997, the Sixth Annual Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) Mobile Robot Competition and Exhibition was held. The competition consisted of four new events: (1) Find Life on Mars; (2) Find the Remote; (3) Home Vacuum; and (4) Hors d'Oeuvres, Anyone? The robot exhibition was the largest in AAAI history. This article presents the history, motivation, and contributions for the event.