Team CERBERUS and Team Dynamo Win DARPA Subterranean Challenge Final Event

CERBERUS won the Systems Competition and Dynamo topped the leaderboard in the Virtual Competition as roboticists and engineers from eleven countries participated in the Final Event of the DARPA Subterranean (SubT) Challenge this week at the Louisville, Kentucky Mega Cavern. With $5 million in total prize money at stake, the Systems and Virtual winners won $2 million and $750,000, respectively.

The Systems Competition involved physical robots and the Virtual Competition took place in simulated underground worlds. Four of the teams competed in both competitions. Teams in the Systems Competition developed a wide variety of robotic systems to advance and evaluate novel mapping and navigation solutions for application in realistic field environments, such as human-made tunnels, urban underground settings, and caves. Teams in the Virtual Competition developed software and algorithms using virtual models of systems, environments, and terrain to compete in simulation-based events, and explore simulated environments.

“In time-sensitive missions, such as active combat operations or disaster response, warfighters and first responders face difficult terrain, unstable structures, degraded environmental conditions, severe communication constraints, and expansive areas of operation,” said Timothy Chung, program manager of the SubT Challenge. “The Challenge has helped to significantly advance technological tools for tackling these impediments and safeguarding lives.”

Since the SubT Challenge began in 2018, teams have had the opportunity to compete in three Circuit events – Tunnel, Urban, and Cave (though the Cave Circuit was shifted to virtual-only due to the pandemic). The Final Event tested qualifying teams on courses that incorporated relevant challenges from all three environments.

The final scores were as follows:

Systems Competition:

• 23: CERBERUS (CollaborativE walking & flying RoBots for autonomous ExploRation in Underground Settings), DARPA-funded winner of the $2,000,000 first place prize
• 23: CSIRO Data61, DARPA-funded winner of the $1,000,000 second place prize
• 18: MARBLE (Multi-agent Autonomy with Radar-Based Localization for Exploration), DARPA-funded winner of the $500,000 third place prize
• 17: Explorer, DARPA-funded
• 13: CoSTAR (Collaborative SubTerranean Autonomous Resilient Robots), DARPA-funded
• 7: CTU-CRAS-NORLAB (Czech Technical University in Prague - Center for Robotics and Autonomous Systems – Northern Robotics Laboratory), DARPA-funded
• 2: Coordinated Robotics, self-funded
• 2: Robotika, self-funded

Virtual Competition:

• 223: Dynamo, self-funded winner of the $750,000 first place prize
• 215: CTU-CRAS-NORLAB (Czech Technical University - Center for Robotics and Autonomous Systems - Northern Robotics Laboratory), self-funded winner of the $500,000 second place prize
• 212: Coordinated Robotics, self-funded winner of the $250,000 third place prize
• 152: BARCS (Bayesian Adaptive Robot Control System), DARPA-funded
• 135: Robotika, self-funded
• 69: SODIUM-24 Robotics, self-funded
• 30: MARBLE (Multi-agent Autonomy with Radar-Based Localization for Exploration), self-funded
• 28: Flying Fitches, self-funded
• 13: COLLEMBOLA (Communication Optimized, Low Latency Exploration, Map-Building and Object Localization Autonomy), self-funded.

For more information, visit: www.subtchallenge.com

Image Caption: Team CERBERUS wins DARPA SubT Challenge Finals Systems Competition.

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