EuRathlon: the autonomous robot challenge

Abstract

Purpose

This article aims to describe euRathlon 2013, the first competitive event in a three-year, EU-funded programme for autonomous robots, which was held in Germany in September 2013.

Design/methodology/approach

Following an introduction, this describes the teams and their robots, the scenarios in which they had to compete, the results and details of the winning robots. It concludes with a short discussion.

Findings

Thirteen academic and corporate teams competed in five tasks that simulated a range of challenging terrestrial disaster response scenarios. Performance was assessed and scored by a panel of judges and prizes were awarded to the teams that performed best.

Originality/value

This provides details of an important competition that seeks to enhance Europe's autonomous robot capabilities.

Citation

Bogue, R. (2014), "EuRathlon: the autonomous robot challenge", Industrial Robot, Vol. 41 No. 1, pp. 50-55. https://doi.org/10.1108/IR-10-2013-405