Unmanned ground vehicles show their stuff at Robotics Rodeo

The Army concluded its third Robotics Rodeo last month in which it included for the first time competitions, known as vignettes, in which robots competed against each other on a mock battlefield, reports Wired's Danger Room blog.

Forty-four companies and five universities brought 74 technologies to the Robeo, as it has been affectionately dubbed, the story said. The Army's Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center oversaw robots participating in vignettes that focused on autonomous supply missions, automatic foxhole-digging and reconnaissance.

The event also marked the first time the DOD's Joint IED Defeat Organization participated in the event. In the JIEDDO portion, 18 robots faced off in four vignettes to test various aspects of the counter-IED mission; namely, patrol endurance, reconnaissance, and bomb detection and disruption.

The final results of 10 days of competition are still being tallied, according to the story.