Team DRC-Hubo@UNLV in 2015 DARPA Robotics Challenge Finals

Abstract

This chapter presents a technical overview of Team DRC-Hubo@UNLVs approach to the 2015 DARPA Robotics Challenge Finals (DRC-Finals). The Finals required a robotic platform that was robust and reliable in both hardware and software to complete tasks in 60 min under degraded communication. With this point of view, Team DRC-Hubo@UNLV integrated methods and algorithms previously verified, validated, and widely used in the robotics community. For the communication aspect, a common shared memory approach that the team adopted to enable efficient data communication under the DARPA controlled network is described. A new perception head design (optimized for the tasks of the Finals) and its data processing are then presented. In the motion planning and control aspect, various techniques, such as wheel-driven navigation, zero-moment point (ZMP)-based locomotion, and position-based manipulation and controls, are described in this chapter. By introducing strategically critical elements and key lessons learned from DRC-Trials 2013 and the testbed of Charleston, we also illustrate how DRC-Hubo has evolved successfully toward the DRC-Finals.