Competition - Disaster response robots compete in Brazil

A GERMAN autonomous robot called Hector has won the 2014 RoboCup Rescue League with its ability to explore disaster areas without human supervision. Developed by engineers at the Technical University in Darmstadt, Germany, Hector impressed the judges while showing its skills in various disaster scenarios, including earthquake and tsunami. The robots competing in the championship, held in Brazil at the end of July, were assessed against criteria developed by the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) with both autonomous and remote-controlled robots competing in the same category.