Seraphim
03-14-2004, 07:21 AM
I seen the "highlights" if thats what you want to call it. Very funny stuff.
http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20040313/capt.cadd10803132318.robot_race_cadd108.jpg
By Kyle Balluck, washingtonpost.com Staff Writer
BARSTOW, CALIF., March 13 -- The Pentagon (news - web sites)-sponsored robot race held in Southern California today ended without a winner, as none of the autonomous vehicles built by the 15 qualifying teams was able to travel farther than 7 miles from the starting line.
Sandstorm, the modified Humvee entered by a team from Carnegie Mellon University, was one of the two vehicles that made it farthest before it succumbed to engine trouble. A vehicle built by Team SciAutonics II from Thousand Oaks, Calif., also traveled about 7 miles before stopping.
A vehicle built by The Golem Group of Santa Monica, Calif., was able to travel 5 miles before stopping. Most of the other vehicles competing for a $1 million prize in the Pentagon's "Grand Challenge" failed to travel more than a few hundred yards from the starting point near Barstow, Calif.
Both Virginia-based teams were among those whose vehicles barely made it past the starting line. The modified Honda all-terrain vehicle assembled by Team ENSCO from Falls Church only made it a few hundred yards out of the launching area before it flipped over. A four-wheel off-road vehicle entered by a team from Virginia Tech University made it to the edge of the launching area before its brakes locked up. Several other vehicles hit retaining walls or fences near the starting line.
The fact that no vehicle made it more than 10 miles from the starting point reflected the enormously difficult challenge of building a vehicle smart enough to navigate across hundreds of miles of desert landscape. Autonomous vehicles make decisions based on their knowledge of the terrain. If a vehicle's cameras or radar detect an obstacle, onboard computers make decisions to go around, or back up, or change gears before moving toward the next waypoint.
"It's a tough challenge -- it's a grand challenge -- you can always bet that it's not doable. But if you don't push the limits, you can't learn," said Ensco Inc. engineer Venkatesh Vasudevan.
Of the 15 teams that qualified for today's race, only 13 actually started out on the course early this morning, departing in stages from an area near Barstow, Calif. Teams got course information about two hours before the race. Waypoints -- a series of global positioning system coordinates -- were programmed into onboard navigation systems.
The race sponsor, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, received more than 100 submissions from teams wanting to participate. That list was winnowed down to 25 teams, comprised of engineering and R&D firms, colleges and volunteers. Of the 21 teams that attempted to qualify over four days of trials earlier this week, just seven completed a flat, 1.36-mile obstacle course at the California Speedway.
More than two decades ago, military efforts to research autonomous technology produced large, slow vehicles that could only traverse flat terrain. California officials also successfully tested an automated highway system in San Diego in 1997. But a vehicle that can move quickly over a variety of landscapes and around or over natural and man-made obstructions has remained elusive.
In sponsoring today's race, DARPA was responding to a congressional mandate that one-third of U.S. military operational ground combat vehicles be unmanned by 2015. Robotic vehicles one day could deliver supplies, eliminating the threat to drivers and security personnel assigned to vehicle convoys.
The agency spent $13 million on the race. It estimated that competitors laid out four to five times that amount developing their entries, which rely on global positioning satellites as well as a variety of sensors, lasers, radar and cameras to orient themselves and detect and avoid obstacles.
Non-military considerations also sparked some teams to participate in today's race. Scott Gray, a spokesman for the Carnegie Mellon University team, said he envisions vehicles one day that could be programmed to let blind people travel independently.
The two vehicles that made it farthest today had at least some backing from corporate sponsors. The Carnegie Mellon team had various levels of support from Intel Corp., Boeing Co., Caterpillar and Science Applications International Corp. SciAutonics II's Thousand Oaks, Calif.-based team has ties to Rockwell Scientific Company.
Carnegie Mellon President Jared Cohon said his school's vehicle cost approximately $3 million.
The DARPA Grand Challenge did not escape controversy in the planning stages. Axion Racing, based near Los Angeles, earlier this month objected to a rule change that allowed humans to refuel the vehicles if they wound up spending the night in the desert. Axion team leader Bill Kehaly said entrants with larger vehicles would benefit from the revision.
One of the teams selected to participate in the challenge, Northern California-based Team Overbot, dropped out in February. Overbot's John Nagle said he ran out of time to complete his vehicle, noting that an improving economy in Silicon Valley late last year took away many of his volunteers.
Nagle also questioned DARPA's decision to increase the number of course waypoints. He says a heavily preplanned approach "doesn't lead anywhere," saying the technique was proven in the California highway test in 1997. The current level of waypoints favored Carnegie Mellon's Red Team, Nagle said.
But Gary Carr, team leader from ENSCO, a Northern Virginia engineering firm, said the route is not simply a matter of "connecting the dots." He said the vehicles will have to do a lot of their own thinking on the course, noting a lot of turns can happen in the quarter mile average distance between waypoints.
More than 900 people came to Barstow as members of the teams selected to participate in the race. With no winner, DARPA said the $1 million prize money will roll over to another event to be held as soon as 2006.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20040313/capt.cadd10803132318.robot_race_cadd108.jpg
By Kyle Balluck, washingtonpost.com Staff Writer
BARSTOW, CALIF., March 13 -- The Pentagon (news - web sites)-sponsored robot race held in Southern California today ended without a winner, as none of the autonomous vehicles built by the 15 qualifying teams was able to travel farther than 7 miles from the starting line.
Sandstorm, the modified Humvee entered by a team from Carnegie Mellon University, was one of the two vehicles that made it farthest before it succumbed to engine trouble. A vehicle built by Team SciAutonics II from Thousand Oaks, Calif., also traveled about 7 miles before stopping.
A vehicle built by The Golem Group of Santa Monica, Calif., was able to travel 5 miles before stopping. Most of the other vehicles competing for a $1 million prize in the Pentagon's "Grand Challenge" failed to travel more than a few hundred yards from the starting point near Barstow, Calif.
Both Virginia-based teams were among those whose vehicles barely made it past the starting line. The modified Honda all-terrain vehicle assembled by Team ENSCO from Falls Church only made it a few hundred yards out of the launching area before it flipped over. A four-wheel off-road vehicle entered by a team from Virginia Tech University made it to the edge of the launching area before its brakes locked up. Several other vehicles hit retaining walls or fences near the starting line.
The fact that no vehicle made it more than 10 miles from the starting point reflected the enormously difficult challenge of building a vehicle smart enough to navigate across hundreds of miles of desert landscape. Autonomous vehicles make decisions based on their knowledge of the terrain. If a vehicle's cameras or radar detect an obstacle, onboard computers make decisions to go around, or back up, or change gears before moving toward the next waypoint.
"It's a tough challenge -- it's a grand challenge -- you can always bet that it's not doable. But if you don't push the limits, you can't learn," said Ensco Inc. engineer Venkatesh Vasudevan.
Of the 15 teams that qualified for today's race, only 13 actually started out on the course early this morning, departing in stages from an area near Barstow, Calif. Teams got course information about two hours before the race. Waypoints -- a series of global positioning system coordinates -- were programmed into onboard navigation systems.
The race sponsor, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, received more than 100 submissions from teams wanting to participate. That list was winnowed down to 25 teams, comprised of engineering and R&D firms, colleges and volunteers. Of the 21 teams that attempted to qualify over four days of trials earlier this week, just seven completed a flat, 1.36-mile obstacle course at the California Speedway.
More than two decades ago, military efforts to research autonomous technology produced large, slow vehicles that could only traverse flat terrain. California officials also successfully tested an automated highway system in San Diego in 1997. But a vehicle that can move quickly over a variety of landscapes and around or over natural and man-made obstructions has remained elusive.
In sponsoring today's race, DARPA was responding to a congressional mandate that one-third of U.S. military operational ground combat vehicles be unmanned by 2015. Robotic vehicles one day could deliver supplies, eliminating the threat to drivers and security personnel assigned to vehicle convoys.
The agency spent $13 million on the race. It estimated that competitors laid out four to five times that amount developing their entries, which rely on global positioning satellites as well as a variety of sensors, lasers, radar and cameras to orient themselves and detect and avoid obstacles.
Non-military considerations also sparked some teams to participate in today's race. Scott Gray, a spokesman for the Carnegie Mellon University team, said he envisions vehicles one day that could be programmed to let blind people travel independently.
The two vehicles that made it farthest today had at least some backing from corporate sponsors. The Carnegie Mellon team had various levels of support from Intel Corp., Boeing Co., Caterpillar and Science Applications International Corp. SciAutonics II's Thousand Oaks, Calif.-based team has ties to Rockwell Scientific Company.
Carnegie Mellon President Jared Cohon said his school's vehicle cost approximately $3 million.
The DARPA Grand Challenge did not escape controversy in the planning stages. Axion Racing, based near Los Angeles, earlier this month objected to a rule change that allowed humans to refuel the vehicles if they wound up spending the night in the desert. Axion team leader Bill Kehaly said entrants with larger vehicles would benefit from the revision.
One of the teams selected to participate in the challenge, Northern California-based Team Overbot, dropped out in February. Overbot's John Nagle said he ran out of time to complete his vehicle, noting that an improving economy in Silicon Valley late last year took away many of his volunteers.
Nagle also questioned DARPA's decision to increase the number of course waypoints. He says a heavily preplanned approach "doesn't lead anywhere," saying the technique was proven in the California highway test in 1997. The current level of waypoints favored Carnegie Mellon's Red Team, Nagle said.
But Gary Carr, team leader from ENSCO, a Northern Virginia engineering firm, said the route is not simply a matter of "connecting the dots." He said the vehicles will have to do a lot of their own thinking on the course, noting a lot of turns can happen in the quarter mile average distance between waypoints.
More than 900 people came to Barstow as members of the teams selected to participate in the race. With no winner, DARPA said the $1 million prize money will roll over to another event to be held as soon as 2006.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.