RoboSimian and Surrogate are robots that were designed and built at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. Credit: JPL-Caltech

Since they were first announced in 2012, NASA has been a major contender in the DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC). This competition which involves robots navigating obstacle courses using tools and vehicles was first conceived by DARPA to see just how capable robots could be at handling disaster response.

The Finals for this challenge will be taking place on June 5th and 6th, 2015, at Fairplex in Pomona, California. And after making it this far with their RoboSimian design, NASA was faced with a difficult question. Should their robotic primate continue to represent them, or should that honor go to their recently unveiled Surrogate robot?

As the saying goes you dance with the one who brung ya. In short, NASA has decided to stick with RoboSimian as they advance into the final round of obstacles and tests in their bid to win the DRC and the $2 million prize.

Surrogates unveiling took place this past October 24th at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. The appearance of this robot on stage, to the them song of 2001: A Space Odyssey, was held on the same day that Thomas Rosenbaum was inaugurated as the new president of the California Institute of Technology.

Robotics researchers at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory stand with robots RoboSimian and Surrogate, both built at JPL. Credit: JPL-Caltech

In honor of the occasion, Surrogate (aka Surge) strutted its way across the stage to present a digital tablet to Rosenbaum, which he used to push a button that initiated commands for NASAs Mars rover Curiosity. Despite the festive nature of the occasion, this scene was quite calm compared to what the robot was designed for.

Surge and its predecessor, RoboSimian, were designed to extend humanitys reach, going into dangerous places such as a nuclear power plant during a disaster scenario such as we saw at Fukushima. They could take simple actions such as turning valves or flipping switches to stabilize the situation or mitigate further damage, said Brett Kennedy, principal investigator for the robots at JPL.

RoboSimian was originally created for the DARPA Robotics Challenge, and during the trial round last December, the JPL teams robot won a spot to compete in the finals, which will be held in Pomona, California, in June 2015.

With the support of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency and the Robotics Collaborative Technology Alliance, the Surrogate robot began construction in 2014. Its designers began by incorporating some of RoboSimians extra limbs, and then added a wheeled base, twisty spine, an upper torso, and a head for holding sensors.

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NASAs RoboSimian And Surrogate Robots