The Great Race
 

"Early on March 13, 2004, near Barstow, California, some of the most sophisticated autonomous land vehicles ever assembled will embark for Las Vegas. They have 10 hours to cover approximately 210 miles of desert terrain and overcome the many obstacles this rugged landscape presents. There will be no drivers, no mechanics, no human navigators. The only communication allowed will be the starting gun! This is the first race of its kind. The winning team will receive a prize of $1 million. "
This race is sponsored the DRPA with the intent of developing automous fighting vehicles. Won't it be great to be able to subdue a city without risking American lives. We could remotely capture Baghdad, Bogata ......... ....... or Cleveland.:worried:

Thanks for the map. I'm going to go lay some land mines.

Re: The Great Race
 

Southeastern Louisiana University, which I'm attending, is working on a 'bot for the 2005 run.

There's a great article in Fortune Small Business about some of the teams assembled to build these machines. While a majority are university-funded squads, there are a few private teams with investors in tow. There's even a team of high schoolers from Calif.

The writer said car companies are banking on these races for future ideas, much more so than the military (DRPA).

This is very impressive.

...and yes, a bit frightening, too.

DARPA Grand Challenge Site

Boeing has joined the Carnegie-Mellon "Red Team".
Being given the route just 2 hours before the race means they will have to be prepared for anything.

Well, they're at it again.
This weekend the second race for autonomous vehicles goes off in Nevada.
Strange, the guy in charge is named Tony Tether.
These are the two vehicles sponsored (in part) by Boeing.

Pete here: (I couldn't get Griff's cookies to clear)

My company (Ensco) has a vehicle in the Grand Challenge final. Last year's vehicle was based on an ATV and flipped over a few hundred yards into the race. This year's is a custom vehicle resembling a dune buggy.
It's pretty exciting.
www.teamensco.com

Go CMU!

After all these years?
That looks like a Monster Garage creation..... Cool! Hope you get a piece of that 2 million. :biggrin:

Hey, they did the best last year. Of course it was only about 10 miles, but still the best.
Boeing's got faith in the Big Red Team....to the tune of a few million. :lol:

Hey Troubleshooter is SLU in it? :question:

Dude , let us all know how it come out !!!

Webcast It's a go!

It is called the Grand Challenge. The disucssion is in the Technology section as Grand Challenge II . It includes a link to the Grand Challenge web site.

Carnigie Mellon was last year's favorite. This year Stamford is doing a very good challenge. Alslo a last minute entry from Princeton was doing well in the qualifyings.

Staford, Red Team, and Red Team Too are all at 80+ miles and look to achieve the course. The prize this year is $2million.

Ensco is coming after them fella. I don't see split times listed anywhere.

[homer]DOLP![/homer]

Looks like Stanford won. :eek:

No. Red Team Too crossed the finish line second with a 5 minute greater elapsed time but Red Team crossed third with a time 3 minutes less than Stanford.

Wait a damn minute here. Every time I check back the elapsed times keep changing..... For the teams that have finished. :eyebrow:

The Gray Team is the next closest and has taken 6 hours to complete about half the course. It would have to do the second half in less than 2 hours. No way. :headshake

I think the clocks on the web site are screwed up, they're continuing to run. :question:

Now they're saying Red Team's time is 4 minutes greater than Stanford.
I think that's mo better. :biggrin:

Well, Stanley (Stanford) has been declared the winner followed by Red Team (4 minutes), Red Team Too (9 minutes), and Gray Team (22 minutes). A 22 minute spread is pretty close for a 10 hour race.
But Terramax is still on the course after being delayed over and hour while DARPA replaced a broken chase vehicle and some other problems. The officials decided to shut down for the night restarting this morning.

Terramax, by gosh. ;)

OK, the corrected final results;
Stanford = 6:54 hours
Red Team = 7:05 hours
Red Too = 7:14 hours
Gray Team = 7:30 hours
So the spread was 36 not 22 minutes.

Terramax is still running but disqualified for exceeding the 10 hour limit. :(

Flat Tire
 

Sorry tw for not posting to your thread over in technology. Maybe Toad can combine the threads.

Anyway - I was dying to find out why the disqualified ones were disqaulified. Here's the email I got from Ensco this morning.

Primm, Nev. (October 8, 2005) After five hours of traversing almost 90 miles autonomously, averaging just under 20 mph, DEXTER’s solid performance on the Challenge course was forced to end. DARPA officials in a “chase” vehicle stopped DEXTER due to a flat tire.

Up until this point in the course, DEXTER provided loads of excitement. The tenth to start the timed course, DEXTER quickly passed five vehicles, which started earlier, then a sixth, and was quickly catching up to the three leading teams. At times, DEXTER may have been reaching certain mile markers at a speed greater than that of the three leading teams.

The chase vehicle officials reported that following DEXTER was thrilling. DEXTER knew exactly where to go, and possibly reached speeds of approximately 40 mph, making it challenging for their vehicle to keep close. After DEXTER exited the last tunnel, the chase officials believed that DEXTER started to exhibit some unusual behaviors and then suffered the flat tire. Team members are investigating to see what might of happened.

President Greg Young shared, “We are enormously proud of Team ENSCO. We may not have won the Challenge, but the rewards we have won are far greater. There is enormous value in the extensive knowledge each team member has gained in autonomous vehicle technology as well as in the importance of team work.” Team ENSCO member James Whong added, “This has truly been an adventure. I am honored to be a part of this historical event.”

DARPA officials, other teams, the press, and spectators complimented Team ENSCO on their friendliness, professionalism, openness, and upbeat attitude.

Flat tire? So that's why Boeing hired those snipers. :D

This was the statement on Boeing's internal website for employees;
:lol: