Case Study: NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory wins the DARPA Subterranean Challenge with Boston Dynamics Spot

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory - Customer Case Study

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) faced the challenge of developing robotic systems to autonomously navigate and map complex, high-risk subterranean environments for the DARPA Subterranean Challenge. These domains, which are too dangerous for humans, test the limits of mobility, perception, and autonomy. To tackle the Urban Circuit competition in an unfinished power plant, JPL teamed up with Boston Dynamics and integrated two Spot robots into their heterogeneous fleet.

By integrating their own NeBula autonomy framework onto Boston Dynamics' Spot robots, JPL enabled them to quickly and autonomously negotiate tough terrain, including stairs and multiple levels. The Spot robots explored hundreds of meters autonomously in under 60 minutes. This solution was a key factor in JPL's team, CoSTAR, winning first place in the Urban Circuit competition.

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory