DARPA SubT Challenge – CSIRO December 2019 update

After finishing in fifth place (out of 11 competing teams) in the DARPA Subterranean Challenge Tunnel Event in Pittsburgh, USA last August, our team is pleased to have Phase II funding and is now preparing for the second scored event, the Urban Circuit.

Taking place 18-27 February 2020, the Urban Circuit will challenge participants to navigate an abandoned nuclear power plant at the Satsop Business Park, West of Olympia, Washington. 

The team is currently preparing for this next event by focussing their efforts on two new Titan tracked robots, two new Subterra drones and on the enhanced CSIRO’s Data61 proprietary hexapod named Bruce. 

The new Titan models are lighter and weight balanced for stair climbing at extreme angles. The new Subterra drones are smaller and have a longer flight time which makes them ideally suited for the tight doorways and passages expected in the next challenge.

The new Titan vehicles will feature a deployment platform that allows them to carry drones before deciding when they should be launched.

Significant improvements have been made to our communications technology and we will be fielding Titans that can automatically deploy Rajant ES1s nodes and drones equipped with Rajant DX-2s, enabling full peer to peer meshing and data sharing.

This research was developed with funding from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The views, opinions and/or findings expressed are those of the author and should not be interpreted as representing the official views or policies of the Department of Defense or the U.S. Government.

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