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Robot Uses Autonomous Decision-Making to Navigate Obstacles

Some natural or man-made disasters prove too great in scale or scope for timely and effective human response. The DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC) will attempt to address this capability gap by promoting innovation in robotic technology for disaster-response operations. The primary technical goal of the DRC is to develop ground robots capable of executing complex tasks in dangerous, degraded, human-engineered environments. In this video, the Pet-Proto, a predecessor to DARPA's Atlas robot, is confronted with obstacles similar to those robots might face in the DRC. To maneuver over and around the obstacles, Pet-Proto exercises capabilities including autonomous decision-making, dismounted mobility, and dexterity.