Summer Issue, 2013

On Campus 15 The HKU Robotics Team, the rst of its kind in Hong Kong, has been selected to enter the world’s top Robotics Challenge to be held in the US in December this year. The Robotics Challenge was initiated by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in response to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear crisis. The competition challenges robotics researchers to create a new generation of humanoid robots that can work in dangerous environments and undertake jobs too hazardous for humans. The HKU team members from the Faculty of Engineering, jointly with the Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) team from the US, entered in the rst stage of the Robotics Challenge in June under the name of “Team Case” and placed in the top ten. As well as giving funding and an ATLAS robot to the top six teams to compete in the second-stage Trials in December 2013, DARPA announced it will also provide funding to several other top teams, including HKU which will join forces with Team K-Japan and Case Western to form “Team HKU”, to compete in December. Team HKU will also participate in the DARPA nal competition in 2014, where it will vie against other teams and their own robots in a physical disaster-style scenario. “TheTeam is part of the Faculty’s Advanced Robotics Initiatives and it is a significant accomplishment for us to make it into the top 10 worldwide at our first attempt.” Professor NormanTien 田之楠教授 Dean of Engineering HKU RoboticsTeam rises to the challenge in international competition Riding to the Rescue Task 1: Robot picking up a hose Task 2: Robot connecting a hose to a pipe Task 3: Robot turning a valve www.darpa.mil/NewsEvents/Releases/2013/06/27.aspx