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Darpa selects eight teams for $3.5 million prize competition

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Darpa has selected eight teams to compete for a prize competition in which the winner will receive $2 million, the runner-up will get $1 million, and third place will earn half a million dollars.

The Darpa Subterranean (SubT) Challenge Systems Competition Final Event will be held on September 21-23, 2021, when the teams’ robots will have to quickly navigate unfamiliar underground environments at the Louisville Mega Cavern in search of common items including backpacks, cell phones, trapped survivors, and even invisible gas.

Those who find and identify the most items will win prizes of $2 million for first place, $1 million for second place, and $500,000 for third place. [Read more…] about Darpa selects eight teams for $3.5 million prize competition

SSL selected to partner with Darpa to develop satellite servicing business

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Space Systems Loral, a leading provider of innovative satellites and spacecraft systems, today announced it has been selected by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to develop the capability to service and maintain spacecraft and other infrastructure in the geostationary arc.

Darpa’s Robotic Servicing of Geosynchronous Satellites program is expected to be the foundation of a new business for SSL that will serve both commercial and government operators with repair, upgrade, relocation, and refueling of on-orbit assets.

Howard Lance, chief executive officer, SSL MDA Holdings, says: “This will be SSL’s first spacecraft contract with the Department of Defense in recent years and it is the third time that we have been selected by the US government for a major program in just two months, following our recent selections for Nasa’s Restore-L and Psyche missions.

“It clearly demonstrates the success of our strategy to bring the benefits of our commercial business to a broader audience and to grow our business with US government work.”  [Read more…] about SSL selected to partner with Darpa to develop satellite servicing business

Darpa-backed company demonstrates semi-autonomous plane co-piloted by a robot

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Aurora demonstrates advanced robot system on a Diamond DA-42, Cessna Caravan and Bell UH-1 helicopter as part of Darpa autonomous aircraft program

Aurora Flight Sciences is reaching new technological heights in the world of automated flight through its work on the Aircrew Labor In-Cockpit Automation System (Alias) program.

On October 17 Aurora demonstrated automated flight capabilities with Alias flying a Cessna Caravan through basic maneuvers under the supervision of a pilot.

Aurora’s Alias technology has now been successfully demonstrated on three separate aircraft, from three original equipment manufacturers, in less than twelve months.  [Read more…] about Darpa-backed company demonstrates semi-autonomous plane co-piloted by a robot

SSL to provide robotic arms to Darpa for satellite servicing

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SSL artist rendering robotic arms. Source: Darpa (PRNewsFoto/SSL)

Space Systems Loral (SSL), a provider of innovative satellites and spacecraft systems, has received $20.7 million from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) to design and build robotic arm flight hardware for the first phase of the agency’s Robotic Servicing of Geosynchronous Satellites (RSGS) program.

SSL is receiving the funds through MDA US Systems, a division of MDA managed by SSL, and is working with the US Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), which is the prime contractor managing the program.

The contract is for two complete robotic arm systems, which would be able to carefully capture and berth with satellites that were not previously designed for docking.  [Read more…] about SSL to provide robotic arms to Darpa for satellite servicing

Carnegie Mellon robotics unit wins $11m in contracts

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Carnegie Mellon University’s National Robotics Engineering Center (NREC) has been selected as a prime contractor or subcontractor on four major new federal research projects totaling more than $11 million over the next three years. The projects range from research on a wheel that can transform into a track to automated stress testing for critical software.

Herman Herman, NREC director, said the center has hired 10 new technical staff members in the past six months and anticipates hiring another five-to-10 staff members in the coming months to augment its existing staff of about 100.

“For the past 20 years, NREC has been an important national resource, combining unique technical skills and testing capabilities to solve problems that other groups can’t,” said Martial Hebert, director of CMU’s Robotics Institute, which includes the NREC. “These new projects are a reminder that NREC continues to advance the art and science of robotics and that it remains a vital part of Carnegie Mellon’s Robotics Institute.”  [Read more…] about Carnegie Mellon robotics unit wins $11m in contracts

Darpa selects Ekso Bionics for development of next-generation exoskeleton

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Ekso Bionics has been awarded a contract to develop a new exoskeleton design for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (Darpa) Warrior Web program.

The new initiative is focused on the creation of a groundbreaking flexible exoskeleton designed to reduce the wearer’s energy output while also assisting with load carriage.

This is the fourth time Darpa has tapped the company’s Ekso Labs division for its unparalleled exoskeleton knowledge to develop a more advanced generation of exoskeletons. [Read more…] about Darpa selects Ekso Bionics for development of next-generation exoskeleton