AST August 2018 Magazine Aug 2018 Final (8.14.18) | Page 61

Volume 26
August 2018 Edition
The DARPA Subterranean Challenge explores innovative approaches and new technologies to rapidly map, navigate, and search
complex underground environments. (Courtesy of DARPA)
“We’ve reached a crucial point where ad-
vances in robotics, autonomy, and even bi-
ological systems could permit us to explore
and exploit underground environments
that are too dangerous for humans,” added
TTO Director Fred Kennedy .
Fred Kennedy of DARPA’s Tactical Technology Office (TTO)
“Instead of avoiding caves and tunnels, we
can use surrogates to map and assess their
suitability for use.”
“Through the DARPA Subterranean Chal-
lenge, we are inviting the scientific and
engineering communities—as well as the
public—to use their creativity and resource-
fulness to come up with new technologies
and concepts to make the inaccessible
accessible.”
Like previous challenges, DARPA-fund-
ed and self-funded teams will compete
side by side.
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