Final preparations are being made by
24 robotics teams about to compete for $3.5m (£2.3m) worth of prizes in
a Pentagon-backed competition.
Their machines are being challenged to carry out a series of disaster-related tasks in the shortest time possible.
The
US Department of Defence's Darpa research unit will host the event on
Friday and Saturday at a location close to Los Angeles, California.
A team from Google was a favourite to win, but has quit the contest.
Google's Schaft robot beat 15 other teams that took part in the last round of the challenge
The squad of engineers' Schaft robot won the contest's previous round
in 2013, not long after their start-up was acquired by the search firm.
But
the BBC understands that Google had concerns about being linked to a
military-backed event, even though it is has a "humanitarian" theme.
Google
is, however, allowing six other teams to use a new version of Atlas - a
robot made by its Boston Dynamics division. They will each power their
copy with their own software.
Two tries
The Darpa Robotics Challenge (DRC) involves eight tasks:
- Driving a car
- Getting out of the car
- Opening and walking through a door
- Opening a valve
- Using a drill to cut a hole drawn onto a wall
- Crossing a debris-filled terrain - either by clearing a path for itself or walking over the rubble
- Climbing up steps
- A mystery event, that will only be disclosed to the teams on Friday
Each team will be given two attempts to complete the run.
The
crews can provide remote guidance - for example helping their robot
identify the valve - but cannot control specific movements.
While
the tasks are similar to those in the last round, contestants now only
have an hour to complete the circuit. And that is not the only change.
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