Grand Challenge II
 

Anthony Tether, Director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (which every reader here - without exception - should be completely cognizant of) shows a 110 mile route from Barstow CA to Primm NV. Then he overlaid the route from Baghdad to Fallujah. Almost identical. By 2015, 30% of military vehicles must be autonomous. I believe that is even a Federal law. And so next month, the Grand Challenge race will start again. First heats start Sept 27 to weed down the list of contestants to 40. The final race - a perfect opportunity for ABCs Wide World of Sports.

Last years favorite was Carnegie Mellon's vehicle. But it got lost. Some of last years contestants were good at reading maps but bad at avoiding obstacles. Carnegie Mellon's entry simply got lost, then got stuck, then self destructed - caught fire. No contestant even did more than 5% of the course. Round 2 is Saturday 8 October 2005.

Qualifications are ongoing for the Grand Challenge. Status of each team is located at http://www.grandchallenge.org

Sorry for the boring news. It does not have the thrill and political intrigue of a hurricane. Who would have ever thought a hurricane would be political? But then Grand Challenge is about science and reality rather than about lying leaders - boring.

The race is ongoing with Red Team, Red Team Too, and Stamford all in the 80+ miles of a 150 mile course and all going neck and neck to finish - to get the $2million prize.

The Grand Challenge has apparently been won. Winner appears to be Stamford with both Red Team vehicles from Carnegie Mellon and the Gray Team close behind. It actually became a race. The Gray team was the four team that finished. Unique because it used a Ford Escape Hybrid which is not yet available retail. Official results not yet posted.

Small point tw, it's not Stamford CT, but Stanford University. Otherwise, very cool. I'm amazed that last year all failed and this year four finished. One more thing, the Ford Escape Hybrid is available now. I've seen them around town.

And so it begins.

I suspect this will turn out to be a turning point of some sort.

I believe mrnoodles dwi problem has been solved as well. Keep a coordinates disc in your pocket, friends pour you into your wheels, put a puke bucket under your head, slip the disc in, and you're on your way. :biggrin:

Starting Today - Tuesday, 28 March 2006 - PBS Nova airs a program that summarizes this 'last October' story:
"The Great Robot Race" Episode #3308.
Teams from around the world enter the Darpa Grand Challenge,
a contest for robotic, driver-less vehicles.

Nova is typically repeated multiple times during the week - especially on the weekend and sometimes late at night to be recorded by your Tivo or VCR.


Nova and Frontline are typically aired the same night. Frontline is about Acting Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert whose party today did quite well against the extremist Likud party.

I didn't get around to turning on the TV until the last 2 minutes of the Darpa show last night. Just in time to see the two robots crossing the finish line. At first I was excited when I realized what I had stumbled across, then I was dissapointed when I realized that I had missed the whole show. Oh well.

Nova is typically repeated multiple times during the week - especially on the weekend and sometimes late at night to be recorded by your Tivo or VCR. A visit to www.tv.yahoo.com is useful (avoid the pathetic tvguide.com website).

Pete was glued to it. Dexter got very little acknowlegement. I wonder if they need to do more PR work next time?

Urban Challenge
 

I don't understand why this is not carried as the "Wide World of Sports". The Urban Challenge:
No driver, no problem as robot cars finish race Robots had to avoid obstacles, traffic, and even human stunt drivers.