Robotics Challenge Finals 2015- Humanoid Robots Continue to Advance Each Year

Just a couple weeks ago, teams from all over the globe competed in the Robotics Challenge Finals 2015 put together by DARPA (The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency). Check out this video from Yahoo! Tech to get a summary of what went down at this event.

Each year the robots entered into these challenges advance greatly. While the technology is rapidly growing, it is still in its infant stage according to DARPA's own Gill Pratt, the person in charge of the Robotics Challenge. "'These are still the Model Ts,' Pratt told me. 'In coming years, reliability will go up, prices will go down. And the technology here can be applied to robots for many, many purposes- in particular, robots for an aging society. In the United States right now, 13 percent of the population is over age 65. In 15 years that number will rise to 20 percent. Who's gonna take care of us? Wouldn't it be better if I could age in place, if I wouldn't have to go to a nursing home? If there would be technology in my home to make life better, so that I can have a more dignified life as I grow old?'"

Society is slowly gaining more and more acceptance of humanoid robots, and moving away from the fear of AI world domination. What is your opinion on robots, and their progression throughout the past 5 years?  
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President Obama meets ASIMO, Honda’s Humanoid Robot

During a youth science event at the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation (AKA Miraikan) in Tokyo, Japan, President Barack Obama was introduced to ASIMO, Honda’s humanoid robot. For those of you who don’t know, ASIMO is an acronym for Advanced Step in Innovative MObility. For 14 years now, Honda has been developing and enhancing ASIMO’s capabilities of interacting with its physical surroundings. ASIMO has improved so much since its inception; it can now walk up stairs, pour and serve a cup of juice, run, recognize faces, and talk.  

President Obama also saw a demonstration of Atlas, DARPA’s (the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) creation of a humanoid robot designed to save lives from the rubble of natural disasters. As advances are being made in robotics, the technology that are fueling these parts are being widely utilized in other aspects of innovation; driver-less cars, wearable devices, drones, and more. People are becoming increasingly more optimistic about the future of high tech.

“…Obama professed his belief in the importance of science and math programs, telling students they ‘have more technology and more power than even the greatest innovators of previous generations, so there is no limit to what [they] can achieve,’ he said" (President Obama Plays Soccer with ASIMO the Robot). The power of technology gives future generations the ability improve innovations and create things that we never thought possible. What do you think the next capabilities for ASIMO are going to be? What would you like a humanoid robot to be able to do? 

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