MIT Alumni and Co-Founder of Vecna Technologies Deborah Theobald hosted the first annual 5K and Robot Race in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The event was sponsored by the non-profit arm of the company that she calls Vecna Cares. She started the organization as part of global health initiative that was created through community service projects held by Vecna Technologies.
The purpose of the event was to combine the concepts of health and technology. They wanted to get people out and active through the 5K while also showcasing robotic technology to the community. On the day of the event, there were a total of 23 robots that competed in a simple race. To qualify for the race, the robots had to be capable of moving down the 100 meter course, pick up a red Solo cup and loop around a road cone and return to the starting line.
There was a large variety of robots that participated and the robots were separated into heats that were organized by similar sizes and capabilities. Some were small and simple and others were larger and specialized. One was made by students who had entered a rover-style robot (similar to the Curiosity rover currently on Mars) into a competition held by NASA. It was meant to traverse over rugged terrain, so the paved road was no challenge to them.
Others were created as tributes to popular entertainment media, such as the "Doctor Who” television show. A group of students based their robot on "K9" - a robotic dog from the show. The students used wheelchair motors as propulsion for their “K9" - which gave rides to kids in attendance.
Event organizers hope that this year begins a trend that inspires young people to get an interest in science and technology. They want the robots to become more and more ambitious until they can compete in the 5K along with the human participants.
Here’s a video of the event recorded by the MIT Alumni Association: