You wake up underground. You’re dehydrated, your head’s throbbing, and there’s a deep gash on your forehead that’s bleeding heavily. Maybe you’re stuck in a cave system, trapped in a narrow tunnel, arms by your side. Perhaps you’re wedged in a storm drain that’s slowly filling up with water. Or possibly it’s a mine shaft where the power has gone out, plunging you into terrifying pitch blackness. Then you hear something. It’s only faint, but you know what it means: Help is on the way. Only it’s not from a human rescue team. From the rumbling sounds in the distance, it seems that the search-and-rescue team is sending in the robots. Immediately your sense of relief gives way to a feeling of trepidation. With time running out, and maybe only one chance to get this right, you pray that the robot they’ve picked is up to the job.
This nightmare of a scenario is one that, hopefully, will never befall you. But it’s one that DARPA, the United States’ Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, is desperately trying to figure out an answer to. And they’ve got $2 million earmarked for whoever can help them.
https://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/darpa-subt-challenge-feature/
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