Korea’s first humanoid robot HUBO developed by the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) won the 2015 DARPA Robotics Challenge.
The DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC) is a prize competition funded by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, with an aim of developing semi-autonomous ground robots that can do "complex tasks in dangerous, degraded, human-engineered environments."
HUBO completed all the required tasks in just 44 minutes and 28 seconds in the final round on June 6, beating other competitors coming from advanced nations in the robot areas. The robotics team took home the $2 million first-place prize in a competition.
A Total of 24 teams from six nations including the U.S., Japan, Germany, Italy and Hong Kong joined the competition. They had to complete eight tasks, which included driving a utility vehicle, exiting the vehicle, opening a door, cutting a hole in a wall, walking over a pile of rubble, walking up a short flight of stairs, and completing a surprise task. The winner goes to a robot, which completes as many tasks as possible within an hour.
The DARPA Robotics Challenge started with an aim of developing humanoid robots that could supplement relief efforts following the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011, which resulted in a nuclear meltdown of nuclear reactors in Japan. HUBO successfully completed tasks including walking across rubble, climbing steps, opening a door and driving a car alone.
“HUBO carried out drills for more than 100 times in Korea and went through off-season training for three weeks in the U.S.,” said Oh Joon-ho, Hubo's creator and a professor of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology.
“We will continue to develop robots which can be used in reality such as disaster-response robot with better performance,” he added.
The robot from Florida-based Team IHMC Robotics came in second place and won a $1 million prize. Carnegie Mellon University’s disaster-response robot placed third and won $500,000.
Other Korean robots Thormang SNU developed by Seoul National University and Thormang developed by local robotics firm Robotis came in 12th and 15th respectively.
The industrial robotics market has continued to grow globally. Last year along, around 225,000 units were sold in the global market. Among them, 56,000 units, 25 percent of the total, were sold in the Chinese market, followed by 39,000 units in South Korea.
According to the latest report by consulting firm Markets and Markets, the global industrial robot is expected to grow to $40 billion in 2020 with an average annual growth of 5.2 percent from 2014. During the same period, the service robot market is expected to grow 21.5 percent to reach $19.4 billion.
South Korean robotics market has grown 22 percent on annual average since 2008. In terms of robotics density – the number of robots per laborer – South Korea topped the list with 437 units in 2013. The multinational market research firm Spire Research & Consulting estimated that Korea’s industrial and service robot market will the biggest with 200,000 units by 2016.
KAIST’s professor Kwon Dong-soo predicted that “Within five to ten years, every person would have one robot” while Mitsubishi Research Institute said “By 2020, every household will have one robot.”
Amid the growing interest toward the robotics industry, analysts say more strategic and long-term investment is necessary for the nation to make it new growth engine for the economy.
“With export showing a double-digit decline recently, the robotics can be new growth power for exporters,” said Kim Jae-hwan of Korea Association of Robot Industry.
