Robots are Coming to CuriosityStream

Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

CuriosityStream hosts its first-ever live free streaming event with minute-by-minute coverage of the DARPA Robotics Challenge Finals (DRC), as well as exclusive original programs and behind-the-scenes footage on June 5 from 7am-4pm PT and June 6 from 8am-6:30pm PT.

All of the action will be available for free at Live.CuriosityStream.com, including:

• DARPA Challenge Live Twenty-five of the top robotics organizations in the world gather to compete for $3.5 million in prizes as they attempt a simulated disaster-response course in Pomona, California and CuriosityStream will be live streaming the event for the duration of the finals.
• DRC101: This 10-minute special explores the question at the heart of the DARPA Robotics Challenge: can robots save lives? Meet the teams who created the robots designed to perform life or death tasks in disaster situations.
• The Road to the DRCFinals: Who will take top prize and get bragging rights for the world's most advanced robot? This 6-minute original reveals the genius behind the team designs, the state-of-the-art robotics and the blood, sweat and tears that went into the competition, with the winner walking away with a $2M cash prize.
• Team Profile-CHIMP Robot: Carnegie Mellon's Tartan rescue team placed 3rd in the 2013 competition, but they are back to win the prize in 2015 with their custom robot named CHIMP, that resembles a monkey but is able to operate on four legs and roll with treads.
• Team Profile-Florian Robot: Team ViGIR is in it to win it with their humanoid robot Florian – the patron saint of firefighters. Florian is one of several Atlas robots in the Challenge built by Google's Boston Dynamics, but has been modified with custom grippers, tactile sensing and situational awareness that could give it the edge.

The DARPA Robotics Challenge was initiated in response to the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster in 2011 that resulted in a nuclear meltdown of the plant's six nuclear reactors. The failure occurred when the plant was hit by a tsunami triggered by the magnitude 9.0 Tohoku earthquake, creating the largest nuclear incident since Chernobyl in 1986. CuriosityStream will feature exclusive programming from Japan's NHK productions, including:

• Robot Revolution: This 40-minute documentary explores what's happening at the forefront of the robot revolution with a focus on robotics teams from around the world who are working on disaster response robots. As the responders quickly learned after Fukushima, robots specializing in performing single tasks aren't sufficient. Emergency response robots need to be able to make intelligent decisions and handle many different tasks.
• Decommissioning Fukushima: Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant is the site of one of history's worst nuclear disasters. This documentary series documents the decommissioning process, unprecedented in size and scale, that began following the disaster, as well as the return of the residents evacuated at the time of the disaster.
• Meltdown: Through scientific testing, simulations and interviews, this documentary series seeks to understand how such a massive release of radioactive materials occurred at Fukushima and what we can do to prevent it in future.

PRESS CODE: Not necessary for the DARPA Live event or original programs, but available for additional exploration of the site: CSPRESS2015

CONTACT: Bronagh Hanley, Bronagh@bignoisepr.com, 415-314-7262