The DARPA Subterranean Challenge: A Synopsis of the Circuits Stage

Complex underground environments present significant challenges for the autonomy, perception, networking, and mobility of robots operating in time-sensitive disaster response scenarios. In 2017, DARPA created the Subterranean Challenge to stimulate innovation and investment in solutions that can rapidly map, navigate, and search complex environments, including human-made tunnel systems, urban underground, and natural cave networks. The program is hosting a series of evaluations, namely, the three Circuit Events and the Final Event, which assess each competing team's approaches in representative subterranean environments. This paper provides an overview of the program and the results from the Circuits Stage of the competition.