Taking the First Step Toward Autonomous Quadruped Robots: The Quadruped Robot Challenge at ICRA 2023 in London [Competitions]

Last year, the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society (RAS) CAB Competition Committee proposed the Quadruped Robot Challenge (QRC) as an exemplary robot challenge organized by RAS at RAS’s major conferences. As a part of the project, the first version of the QRC was held in ICRA 2023 in London. In this column, we would like to introduce the challenges and the results

Delivery Of An Advanced Double-Hull Ship Welding System Using Robocrane

The Office of Naval Research has sponsored a collaborative effort between the Naval Surface Warfare Center Carderock Division, Advanced Technology and Research Corporation, Newport News Shipbuilders, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Phase I of this effort is nearing completion to autonomously weld double-hull ship sections together. In order to accomplish the delivery of industrial equipment (welder, weld robot, power supply) to the work-site, an advanced crane concept called "RoboCrane" was employed. Typically, a crane equipped with conventional controls would be used to deliver worker-assisted and controlled welding systems. But, the expense, inefficiencies, and the unsafe environment that the project imposes on workers make it a more suitable robotic application. RoboCrane is used to pick-up, deliver, and retrieve advanced welding systems using remote control to/from the work-site where double-hull ship sections are to be joined by welding. The paper provides description of the RoboCrane application to advanced double-hull ship construction, including system configuration of RoboCrane and the weld system, control and sensory feedback, and other applications considered

Performance Standards for Urban Search and Rescue Robots

In this paper, we describe work in performance standards for urban search and rescue (USAR) robots begun in 2004 b

Evolution of a Performance Metric for Urban Search and Rescue Robots

This paper discusses the advancement and proliferation of the Reference Test Arenas for Urban Search and Rescue Robots as representative search and rescue environments, which allow objective performance evaluation of mobile robot capabilities. These arenas have hosted annual rescue robot competitions sponsored by th

RoboCupRescue Interleague Challenge 2009: Bridging the gap between Simulation and Reality

The RoboCupRescue initiative, represented by real-robot and simulation league, is designed to foster the research and development of innovative technologies and assistive capabilities to help responders mitigate an emergency response situation. This competition model employed by the RobocupRescue community has proven to be a propitious model, not only for fostering the development of innovative technologies but in the development of test methods used to quantitatively evaluate the performance of these technologies. The Interleague Challenge has been initiated to evaluate real-world performance of algorithms developed in simulation, as well as to drive the development of a common interface to simplify the entry of newcomer teams to the robot league. This paper will discuss the development of emerging test methods used to evaluate robotic-mapping, the development of a common robotic platform, and the development of a novel map evaluation methodology deployed during the RoboCupRescue competition 2009