Humanitarian Robotics and Automation Technology Challenge 2017
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Organized by:
Raj Madhavan, HumRobTech LLC; IEEE RAS-SIGHT
Alexandre Amory, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS)
Edson Prestes, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS)
Website: http://www.inf.ufrgs.br/HRATC2017/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=De1GMV7fHCE
Local coverage: http://www.pucrs.br/revista/robotica-do-bem/
Venue: Room 5202 (Level 5, next to the breaks area)
Finalists (no winners):
Team Dhruva, India
Team NUS, National University of Singapore, Singapore
Team RCMakers, Turkey
According to the UN Mine Action Service, landmines kill 15,000–20,000 people every year (mostly children) and maim countless more across 78 countries. Demining efforts cost US$ 300-1000 per mine, and, for every 5000 mines cleared, one person is killed and two are injured. Thus, clearing post-combat regions of landmines has proven to be a difficult, risky, dangerous and expensive task with enormous social implications for civilians.
Motivated by these considerations, the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society – Special Interest Group on Humanitarian Technology (RAS–SIGHT) is inviting the academic and non-academic community to participate in the second Humanitarian Robotics and Automation Technology Challenge (HRATC) at the 2017 International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA 2017) to be held in Singapore.
Following in the footsteps of the success of the HRATC Challenge that was held at ICRA in consecutive years from 2014 to 2016, this fourth HRATC edition will continue to focus on promoting the development of new strategies for autonomous landmine detection using a mobile (ground) robot.
The Challenge will take place in three phases: 1) Simulation Phase, 2) Testing Phase, and 3) Finals Phase. The strategies developed by the participating teams will be objectively and quantitatively evaluated according to the following criteria: exploration time and environmental coverage; detection and classification quality; and landmine avoidance. Teams will be progressively eliminated after each phase and the remaining teams would move on to the next phase culminating in the Challenge (Finals) phase at ICRA 2017. It should be noted that the teams do not need to purchase or build a robot instrumented with sensors or any of the accompanying software. Every team can participate remotely in each of the phases.
