DARPA Announces Challenge Winners

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) awarded $3.5 million in prize money to three teams of robotics engineers June 7, who prevailed in this year’s robotics challenge. Collecting the $2 million first-place prize was Team Kaist of Daejon, South Korea, with its robot DRC-Hubo. The second-place winner, IHMC Robotics of Pensacola, Fla., received $1 million for its Running Man robot. Tartan Rescue of Pittsburgh received $500,000 for finishing in third place with its CHIMP robot. The three teams were selected from 23 entrants. The competition, which involved having the robots perform a variety of disaster-response tasks, took place June 5-6 in Pomona, Calif.