A U.S. military robotics challenge next month will feature robots driving customized off-road vehicles in simulated disaster roadway conditions.

Polaris Industries Inc., a leading manufacturer of off-road vehicles, said the robots will drive its Limited Edition DARPA Polaris Ranger 900 EPS in the DARPA Robotics Challenge Finals to be held June 5-6 in Pomona, Calif., weaving their way around obstacles and also exiting the vehicles to intervene in a mockup disaster site where humans cannot perform tasks due to danger.

Polaris said it customized its Ranger XP 900 EPS to include a remote SafeStop electronic throttle kill, brake actuation technology, and a 1000-pound capacity bed for the robot's power supply. The modified vehicles also feature a bench seat and tilt steering to give robots ample room to operate the vehicle and TerrainArmor airless tires.

"The purpose-built DARPA Rangers are part of our continuing effort to lead the way in creating extremely-capable off-road vehicle platforms that are plug-and-play for the robotics companies," said Rich Haddad, general manager of Polaris Defense. "This means incorporating by-wire control technology and helping to provide information about the vehicles to make safe autonomous operation possible. With all of this, autonomy companies can more easily integrate the needed hardware and software for unmanned, optionally-manned and tele-operated off-road vehicles."

DARPA is the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. It is awarding a $2 million grand prize to the robotics challenge winner and $1 million to the runner-up.

Eleven finalist teams from industry and academia are competing in the challenge finals.

"This DARPA Robotics Challenge was created to spur development of robotic technology that can help humans to better respond to future disasters," Polaris said. "The Challenge Finals will have robots perform a number of tasks in a continuous course, simulating what might be encountered in a real disaster situation.