Introduction to the simulation disaster challenge of world robot summit harsh environment F-REI challenge pre-tournament event

Nakamura, Keita*; Suzuki, Kenta ; Kaneko, Eiichiro*; Abe, Yoshitaka*; Shimizu, Masaru*; Ogane, Katsuji*

This paper shows the design and results of a Simulation Disaster Challenge held at the Fukushima Robot Test Field in October 2024 as part of the World Robot Summit Harsh Environment F-REI Challenge Pre-tournament event. In this challenge, we built a new simulation environment that can safely and repeatedly evaluate tasks under extreme conditions that are difficult to verify in the real world while simultaneously reproducing the complex and harsh environment of debris scattering and poor visibility that can be expected in actual plant disasters. This paper first provides an overview of the history of major disaster response robot simulation competitions that have been held to date. Next, we report on the design of the competition course and the competition results for this pre-tournament event. Furthermore, its applicability to STEM education will also be discussed. Finally, we describe the current status of preparations for the main competition scheduled for October 2025.