International teams of robotic engineers descended on Pomona, California last weekend to compete in the U.S. Department of Defense's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's (DARPA) annual robotics contest. A total of 25 robots from Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, China, South Korea, and the United States attempted to complete a series of trials to find out which could best assist during disasters.

The South Korean KAIST team's bi-pedal, transforming DRC-Hubo robot won the competition's top prize of US$2 million after it successfully navigated the course in under 45 minutes. Its eight tasks included navigating rubble-laden terrain, driving a car, tripping circuit breakers, turning a valve, activating an emergency switch, cutting a hole through a wall, climbing up a set of a stairs, and exiting a building.

The large crowd became ecstatic as the DRC-Hubo took its last few steps to victory on a set of stairs.

One member of Team KAIST, Jung Woo Heo, references the popular Korean mecha animation Robot Taekwon V and its influence on his childhood.

The second place Team IHMC Robotics from Florida and its Running Man robot, won US$1 million and Team Tartan Rescue from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh and their CHIMP robot took third place with a US$500,000 prize.

Thousands of attendees watched the finals between the top robots. Unfortunately, many team's robots failed. Japan's Team NEDO-JSK had to remove their creation from the course on a stretcher.

The competition was put together after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in 2011.

You can see more videos of the multi-day event at DARPA's official YouTube channel.

[Via The Verge]