Researchers And Virginia Tech Students Prepare For DARPA Robotics Challenge

BLACKSBURG, VA - MAY 27: Exhaustion wears on Virginia Tech mechanical engineering graduate students Jack Newton, Coleman Knabe and John Seminatore as they secure their ESCHER robot for transporting in the TREC (Terrestrial Robotics Engineering and Controls) Lab May 27, 2015 in Blacksburg, Virginia. Unlike many of the other 24 international teams competing in the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Robotics Challenge, the students of Team Valor have built most of the semi-autonomous ESCHER (Electromechanical Series Compliant Humanoid for Emergency Response) robot from the ground up over the last three months. The winner of the simulated disaster-response course will take home a $2 million prize next week in Pomona, California. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)