A competition funded by the U.S. military showed off the newest robotic technology designed by the world's top engineers and researchers, CNN reported.
Held in Miami, competition featured 13 teams hailing from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Hong Kong University, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and Colorado's Team Mojavaton, among others – competing for a $2 million prize from the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. Each team was given the chance to demonstrate its robotic creations on test tracks for the DARPA judges. Although a military competition, the robots were not only judged on how they perform in combat, but on simple day-to-day activities, such as opening doors, turning valves, climbing ladders and keeping balance on unsteady ground.
According to the news source, many of the robotics engineers believe that using robots will not only be the way of the future for the military, but also for other industries, such as health care and domestic services.
"This robotics challenge will change the way people perceive humanoid robots," Dennis Hong, a mechanical engineering professor at Virginia Tech, told the news outlet. "I envision them doing dishes, talking out the trash, doing the laundry. The future is quite near, but we've got a long way to go."
The winner for the annual DARPA competition was a two-legged, 209-pound robot built by the Japanese company SCHAFT Inc., Discovery.com reported.