in ,

DARPA to Proceed Only With Virtual Track of Subterranean ‘Cave Circuit’ Challenge

underground robots
underground robots
underground robots
underground robots

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has decided to cancel the physical course of its cave circuit event for the Subterranean Challenge and conduct only an all-virtual competition to evaluate proposed situational awareness platforms in that particular underground environment.

DARPA said Friday it made the decision to ensure the safety of participants amid the COVID-19 pandemic and set a Sept. 15 qualification deadline for the Cave Circuit Virtual Competition.

Qualified virtual teams will aim to identify artifacts in a simulated cave environment using a set of robotic and sensor systems that each team will assemble based on configurations from a technology repository.

The completed tunnel and urban undergound circuits of the SubT Challenge featured both physical systems and virtual competitions. According to DARPA, it will incorporte the three subdomains into the final event to be held in the second half of 2021.

Finalists for the systems track can vie for up to $2M in prizes while virtual competitors can compete for as much as $1.5M.

ExecutiveBiz Logo

Sign Up Now! ExecutiveBiz provides you with Daily Updates and News Briefings about Government Technology

mm

Written by Mary-Louise Hoffman

is a writer of news summaries about executive-level business activity in the government contracting sector. Her reports for ExecutiveBiz are focused on trends and events that drive the GovCon industry to include commercial technologies that private companies are developing for federal government use. She contributes news content to ExecutiveBiz’s sister sites GovCon Wire and ExecutiveGov.

Pentagon
DoD Invests $77M in Three Companies to Strengthen Industrial Base Capabilities
USS Tripoli
Navy’s Tripoli Vessel Departs Huntington Ingalls Shipyard in Mississippi