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Robotics Challenge

Novel Hollow-Core Optical Fiber to Enable High-Power Military Sensors

Cougar - Hollow-core fiber
The intensity of light that propagates through glass optical fiber is fundamentally limited by the glass itself. A novel fiber design using a hollow, air-filled core removes this limitation and dramatically improves performance by forcing light to travel through channels of air, instead of the glass around it. DARPA’s unique spider-web-like, hollow-core fiber, design is the first to demonstrate single-spatial-mode, low-loss and polarization control—key properties needed for advanced military applications such as high-precision fiber optic gyroscopes for inertial navigation.  News Release    Program Page 
Cougar - Hollow-core fiber
DRC Robot Front 144

DARPA’s ATLAS Robot Unveiled

DARPA's Atlas robot, developed by Boston Dynamics, is six-foot-two and weighs 290 pounds. 

On Monday, July 8, 2013, the seven teams that progressed from DARPA’s Virtual Robotics Challenge (VRC) arrived at the headquarters of Boston Dynamics in Waltham, Mass. to meet and learn about their new teammate, the ATLAS robot. Like coaches starting with a novice player, the teams now have until late December 2013 to teach ATLAS the moves it will need to succeed in the DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC) Trials where each robot will have to perform a series of tasks similar to what might be required in a disaster response scenario.  News Release 

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Members of Top Nine Software Teams Move Forward from DARPA’s Virtual Robotics Challenge

In the second VRC task, teams had to guide the robot over a series of terrain, including mud, uneven ground and a debris-littered path. 

The DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC) was created with a clear vision: spur development of advanced robots that can assist humans in mitigating and recovering from future natural and man-made disasters. Disasters evoke powerful, physical images of destruction, yet the first event of the DRC was a software competition carried out in a virtual environment that looked like an obstacle course set in a suburban area. That setting was the first proving ground for testing software that might control successful disaster response robots, and it was the world’s first view into the DARPA Robotics Challenge Simulator, an open-source platform that could revolutionize robotics development.  News Release

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Improved Water Purification Technology Reduces SWaP, Logistics Burden

Four fresh water pumps are used to draw water from the Euphrates River to supply reverse osmosis water purification units operated by Marines of the 6th Engineer Support Battalion, 1st Force Support Group, 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, at a tactical water distribution system located at Logistics Support Area, Camp Viper, Iraq. (U.S. Marine Corps photo) 

Military vehicles don’t run without fuel—and warfighters don’t run without water. As little as a six to eight percent water deficit can be debilitating. [i] As a result, military logistics plans must take into account the approximately three gallons of daily drinking water that each warfighter requires. [ii] However, the logistics burden of supplying water to deployed troops is comparable to that of fuel and the economic cost is high. Even more important is the cost in lives; former Marine Corps commandant Gen. James Conway said in 2010, “We take 10 to 15 percent of casualties among Marines involved in the delivery of fuel and water.”[iii]  News Release  Program Page 

A large room is filled with nothing but dozens of radio transmitters hanging from the ceiling

15 Competitors Selected for DARPA Spectrum Challenge

Spectrum Challenge 

As wireless devices proliferate and the radio spectrum becomes ever more congested, all users have a common interest in radio technologies that can accommodate the largest number of users but still enable priority traffic to get through. The DARPA Spectrum Challenge—a competitive demonstration of robust wireless technologies—recently announced the selection of 15 of 18 semifinalists for $150,000 in prize money. DARPA plans to fill three remaining wildcard slots in August 2013 before the September 2013 semifinals at DARPA’s offices in Arlington, Va.   News Release

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Faster, More Precise Airstrikes Within Reach

PCAS 

DARPA's Persistent Close Air Support (PCAS) program aims to enable ground forces and combat aircrews to jointly select and employ precision-guided weapons from a diverse set of airborne platforms. The program seeks to leverage advances in computing and communications technologies to fundamentally increase CAS effectiveness, as well as improve the speed and survivability of ground forces engaged with enemy forces.  News Release  Program Page 

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