Government seeks energy efficient robots

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A US government agency has issued a call for technologies that could increase the energy efficiency of

robots by 2,000 percent. It’s not so much an environmental concern as an attempt to create more practical devices.

The call comes from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which is arguably the closest real-life equivalent to Q’s laboratory in the James Bond series. Its past word includes creating robots modeled on bugs and cheetahs, and funding research into flying snakes to learn more about flight.


The agency already runs contests for inventors and researchers to develop robotic technology. It’s now adding a specific challenge involving existing robots that are used for situations where human access is difficult or impossible, such as exploring enemy territory or searching through rubble for human survivors. The problem is that such devices have a limited battery span, which in turn limits their operating range.

DARPA has published information about how the existing robots operate, and in particular their battery system. Contestant in the challenge are asked to come up with new technology to extend the lifespan of the batteries from between 10 and 20 minutes to at least 200 minutes. The key is that the technology has to make more efficient use of the existing battery rather than use an alternate power source.

The plan is that entrants will be asked to explain the design of their project in December 2013 and display a working system one year later.

There’s also a second challenge which asks people to develop ideas on paper without the need to prove they work in practice.

If anyone manages to pull off the main challenge and meet a lengthy set of criteria, they will be eligible for up to $5 million in funding, with a maximum $1 million on offer for the theory challenge

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