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South Korea wins DARPA robotics nuclear disaster challenge

A combo image of some of the robots in the DARPA Robotics Challenge

A team from South Korea has won the $2 million prize of the DARPA Robotics Challenge, designed to simulate a nuclear reactor disaster situation.

Competitors from all over the world took part in the challenge, sponsored by the US Department of Defense’s R&D arm and held on Friday and Saturday in Pomona, California.   

Team Kaist's DRC-Hubo humanoid robot won the top prize by besting 22 other robots on a obstacle course designed to simulate Japan’s 2011 Fukushima nuclear plant disaster.

During the competition, the robots were tasked with carrying out actions such as driving a car, walking up stairs, opening a door, crossing rubble, drilling a hole in a wall, and turning a valve.      

Hubo completed the course in 44 minutes and 28 seconds.

The robot 'RoboSimian' developed by the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory completes a task during the finals of the DARPA Robotics Challenge at the Fairplex complex in Pomona, California on June 6, 2015. (AFP)

Team IHMC Robotics came in second place with Atlas, a robot designed by Google’s Boston Dynamics, and won $1 million and Tartan Rescue's Chimp robot came third, winning $500,000.

The robot 'CHIMP' developed by Team Tartan Rescue from the US prepares to complete a task during the finals of the DARPA Robotics Challenge at the Fairplex complex in Pomona, California on June 6, 2015. (AFP)

“You are going be the vanguard of this new future that you’re going to go build,” said Arati Prabhakar, director of DARPA. “We have people here from countries all over the world, and every single one of you made an incredible contribution to the field of robotics.”

Initially 25 teams were to compete, but team Hydra from Japan was forced to drop out due to an electronics accident during training while the Chinese team did not take part reportedly due to visa issues.

SRK/NT/AS


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