Read today the IEEE Spectrum article 'Robots Conquer the Underground'

https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9771355 [https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/assets/img/ieee_logo_smedia_200X200.png]https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9771355 Robots Conquer the Underground: What Darpa's Subterranean Challenge Means for the Future of Autonomous Robots | IEEE Journals & Magazine | IEEE Xplorehttps://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9771355 Deep below the Louisville, Ky., zoo lies a network of enormous caverns carved out of limestone. The caverns are dark. They're dusty. They're humid. And during one week in September 2021, they were full of the most sophisticated robots in the world. The robots (along with their human teammates) were there to tackle a massive underground course designed by DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research ... ieeexplore.ieee.org I was not only impressed by the map created by Team CSIRO Data61 (Fig 3), but also found this Q&A very relevant for our competition:

Q: Autononomy is a necesary part of SubT, but having a human in the loop was critical as well. Do you think taht humans will continue to be a necessary part of effectictive robotic teams, or is full autonomy the future.

A: Early in the competition, we saw a lot of hand-holding, with humans giving low-level commands. But teams quickly realized that they neeeded a more autonomous approach. Full autonomy is hard, though, and I think humans will continue to play a pretty big role, just a role that needs to evolve and chane into something that focuses on waht humans do best.

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I hope that this inspires you.

See you in Bangkok,

Arnoud Visser