But there was MORE! When I arrived — anticipating to be wowed and awestruck by the competition — I found that there was more than a robot “Super Bowl” planned. I found myself in
the middle of an ongoing robotics “half-time” in the form
of an out-of-this-world robotics exposition.
This robot expo was bigger than any I had ever
attended. It was chockfull of not just the companies and
schools that were competing, but robotics vendors each
exhibiting, promoting, and demonstrating robots of every
size, shape, and configuration. I suddenly found myself in
robot heaven!
I rolled into the Fairplex at about 9: 30 in the morning
to see the Robotics Challenge. I came to the DRC for several
reasons: the first one being to enjoy watching 24 robot
building teams compete for a grand prize of $2 million; and
the second one, to promote my own college of robotics.
If you have been living under a rock, you might be
asking “What is DARPA?” When I first heard of DARPA, I
assumed because of the “.mil” of the website it was the
part of the US military installation building and researching
Terminator-esque robots. I had guessed that their sole
purpose was to militarize robots so that we could replace
soldiers with T600s and human-guided military drones with
autonomous hunter-killer robots. Even DARPA’s mission
statement, “Creating breakthrough technologies for
national security” might lead one to believe that “Skynet”
was in the works.
Robot Heaven: The Technology
Expo at the DRC
Going to the DRC, one entered the event grounds
walking into one of the biggest and most advanced
robotics and technology exposition in perhaps the world.
With over 70 exhibits and demonstrations put on by
robotics organizations, colleges, clubs, and first responders,
it was like a robot Disneyland! Still, I was not there just to
gawk at the latest cutting-edge robotics technologies, I was
there actually on a three part quest. First, to support the
Robotics Society of Southern California, to which I had
belonged for more than 10 years. Second, to experience
the DRC and its expo as a attendee, and third — and
perhaps most importantly — to showcase the California
Institute of Robots: a robotics engineering college that I am
working to open in Southern California.
On Saturday, June 6th of this year, I had the joy of attending what the Huffington
Post called the "Super Bowl for Robots" — the DARPA Robotics Challenge Finals
(DRC). You see, I am a long time roboticist, having built my first robot over 40
years ago and not stopping since. When I heard a few months back that the DRC
finals were being held in Pomona, CA — about 40 miles from my home — I let out a
child-like scream of delight! I literally bounced up and down with joy. I could not
contain myself! The DARPA Robotics Challenge Finals were being held less than
an hour drive from my home! Not only would I be able to watch this riveting
(excuse the pun) event with my own eyes, but I would be able to talk to the
brilliant robotics engineers that designed, built, and programmed these steely
mechanical men.
The
Robotics Challenge
Finals 2015
58 SERVO 08.2015