POMONA, Calif. – People cheered and clapped, yelled support and literally held their breath as the two-legged, humanoid robot from Team IHMC drove a car, drilled a hole in a wall and turned a valve.

Then as the robot, nearly at the finish line, tried to step off a pile of cinder blocks, it swayed and crashed to the ground.

Nicolas Eyssette reacts at DARPA challenge Sharon Gaudin

Nicolas Eyssette, a research intern and programmer from Team IHMC, reacts when the team’s robot, dubbed Running Man, hits the ground near the end of the course in its first run at the DARPA Robotics Challenge finals.

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