CMU’s National Robotics Engineering Center in Lawrenceville has two weeks to refine and tweak CHIMP — the CMU Highly Intelligent Mobile Platform — for the Dec. 20- 21 Robotics Challenge to be held in a created disaster site at the Homestead-Miami Speedway, a NASCAR track in Homestead, Fla.
Sponsored and funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the competition includes four tracks involving 17 teams. CHIMP is participating in Track A, which will require the partially autonomous robot to complete eight tasks, including turning valves, traversing debris, using power tools, getting in and out of vehicles, and climbing ladders.