[No Filter Robot]Stopping and Falling on Ice... A Chaotic Race of Robot Dogs

Korea's First Quadruped Robot Autonomous-Navigation Race
An Hour-Long Real-World Challenge Over Snow, Ice, and Obstacles
Students Gain Hands-On Experience as Robots Stumble and Stall
Reality of Heavy Reliance on Chinese Robots Also Laid Bare
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Quadruped robots are racing in an autonomous navigation competition. Paek Jongmin, Tech Specialist

"5, 4, 3, 2, 1, go!"

On the afternoon of the 6th, at the parking lot of Alpensia Resort in Gangwon Province, four-legged robots began to run with a clattering sound, leaving behind the booming countdown and the anxious looks of the students. Not all of the robots moved at the same time. Some did not budge at all even after the starting signal, while others hesitated in place.

The robot that shot into the lead pushed forward along the curved track, past obstacles, over a surface mixed with snow and ice. The robots slipped and staggered, some toppled onto their sides, and others simply sank down. One robot even walked backward. A small uneven snowy section loomed like a massive hill in front of the robots, and the cones placed along each route formed barriers that were hard to avoid.

This is how the "Quadruped Robot Autonomous Driving Race," regarded as the highlight of the 21st Korean Robotics Conference (KROC 2024), got underway. The race was held in a format where the robots had to complete 10 laps within one hour.

At the race venue, groans erupted here and there from students carrying their robots. Everyone hoped their own robot would run in front, but reality was unforgiving. Moon Hyungpil, chair of the competition organizing committee and professor at Sungkyunkwan University, said, "Even robots that work fine in the lab often fail as soon as the professor shows up. The competition environment is completely different from the research lab."

Some robots only shuffled backward in place even after the starting signal, while another brushed shoulders with a robot in the neighboring lane and faced the risk of both being disqualified. The students could not stand still for a moment. They followed behind their robots with laptop PCs in hand to check their status and took immediate action whenever a problem arose.

A student participating in a quadruped robot autonomous driving competition is looking at a robot that has tipped over onto its side. Paek Jongmin, Tech Specialist

Robot No. 2, which had been leading from the early stages of the race, suddenly lost its balance in the uneven snowy section and tipped over onto its side. Its legs looked tangled, but after a brief moment it pulled itself back up and continued the race. Exhausted from the cold, students gathered for a while in front of a fish cake truck beside the track, warming themselves with hot broth as they watched the robots run.

After about 30 minutes had passed, the robot from Hongik University’s "Robodog" team was the first to cross the finish line. Second place went to Konkuk University’s "Rulab" team, and third place to Korea Polytechnic University’s "Mecha" team. The conditions were so demanding that simply finishing the race was considered an achievement. Of the seven teams that advanced to the autonomous driving finals, only three managed to complete the race, underscoring how difficult the competition was.

Failing to finish did not mean the effort was meaningless. The very process of standing toppled robots back up and revising code functioned as one giant laboratory. Organizing committee chair Moon stressed, "By personally experiencing the countless variables that occur in real outdoor terrain, students will be able to grow technically."

The Korean Robotics Society plans to use the achievements of this year’s competition as a springboard to expand the event next year. Kim Jinhyun, professor at Seoul National University of Science and Technology and next year’s organizing committee chair, also announced plans, saying, "We will develop the competition to evaluate a wider range of mission-execution capabilities."

Students who participated in the four-legged robot autonomous driving competition held during the Korean Robotics Conference are taking a commemorative photo after the competition. Photo by Paek Jongmin, Tech Specialist

However, the most painful aspect of this year’s competition was the "nationality" of the robots that filled the track. Except for just one unit, every participating robot was made by the Chinese company Unitree. The remaining one was also made in China.

Myung Hyun, professor at KAIST, admitted, "At this price point, there is virtually no domestically produced quadruped robot platform that delivers this level of performance." Students had no other choice but to compete by transplanting a "heart" of Korean autonomous driving algorithms onto a Chinese-made hardware frame. Although around 50 robot companies took part in the conference exhibition, it was difficult to find a mass-market Korean robot with price competitiveness comparable to that of Unitree.

Some argue that there needs to be ample opportunity to make full use of Chinese-made robots for now. Moon Heechang, professor at Hongik University, emphasized, "It is hard for students to participate in a competition like this solely at their own expense. Only when students can directly handle a variety of robots with support from the government or companies will they be able to develop better Korean robots and take the lead in the era of physical AI."