Robots in the Desert
Robot Racers Ready to Go
It is a multi-million-dollar motor race across rough desert terrain, but the real prize could be fewer US casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Gathered in the car park of a casino in Nevada's Mojave desert, 23 self-navigating robot vehicles are competing in the 2005 Grand Challenge - the world's only driver-less car race, organised by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency or DARPA, part of the US Department of Defense.
The town these robots are staging in has wild burros strolling the streets.
UPDATE ... 3 vehicles finish race - 2 are Hummers!
UPDATE ... 4th vehicle crosses finish line - it's a HYBRID!
FINAL UPDATE ... And the winner is ... Volkswagen SUV!
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Race promises more than one winner | ||||||
It is a multi-million-dollar motor race across rough desert terrain, but the real prize could be fewer US casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan. Gathered in the car park of a casino in Nevada's Mojave desert, 23 self-navigating robot vehicles are competing in the 2005 Grand Challenge - the world's only driver-less car race, organised by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency or DARPA, part of the US Department of Defense. The stakes in the race are not small. The team which completes the gruelling 131.6 mile cross-country course in the fastest time will take home a $2m (£1.14m) cash prize. The military need for vehicles which can drive themselves is most pressing in Iraq where US logistical and military convoys come under frequent attack by insurgents. Drivers lucky enough to survive blasts from Improvised Explosive Devices still face the risk of being taken hostage by insurgents.
As Greg Young of Team ENSCO said: "If we can take a logistics vehicle and drive it across an environment like that in Iraq and save lives that's worth a lot of technology investment." In fact, Congress has mandated that one third of the US military's ground vehicles must be able to operate autonomously by 2015. If that sounds unrealistic, consider the important military role played by unmanned arial vehicles (UAVs). Although remote-controlled from bases all over the globe, UAVs like The Predator possess a high degree of autonomy necessary because of the time-lag in relaying commands. Boulders, cliffs But flying in the open skies is much easier than navigating desert littered with boulders and cliffs and man-made obstacles including tunnels and tank-traps. The principal challenge competitors face is teaching the robot-cars to spot obstructions and calculate a route round them fast enough to let the cars travel above the minimum competitive speed of 15mph.
Another technical conundrum is how to ensure the vehicles do not "imagine" obstacles where none exist. It adds up to a formidable challenge. Last year all the competitors failed to complete the course, while the best distance was a mere 7.4 miles. This year there is a lot more sponsorship and a lot more money behind teams, and most competitors believe at least one will complete the course. But away from well-funded teams based out of universities or large engineering firms, the finalists are still a splendidly eclectic bunch. Quiz investor The Golem Group, returning for a second group and now partnered with UCLA, began after team founder Richard Mason won $50,000 (£28,400) on the US Quiz show Jeopardy. He decided to invest his winnings in entering the Grand Challenge. After a creditable showing last year they are back with their new heavy-weight sponsor. Axion, racing from San Diego, live up to the surfer-dude image of their home state. Their vehicle is the only one adorned with Snoopdog style "spinner" hubcaps. It also boasts a couple of surf boards on the roof-rack. A fittingly colourful vehicle for a team that grew out of working on killer-bots for the US version of the hit TV show Robot Wars.
A creditable mention must go to Blue Team and Ghostrider. They did not quite make the final but then they did choose to build an autonomous motor-bike. It certainly won whatever prizes were going for "coolness". It was a miracle of balance and even demonstrated a nifty ability to get back up after a tumble but it was knocked out in the semi final. Looked at from a military perspective the $2m (£1.14m) is a small price to pay for inspiring so much cutting-edge research, but many competitors are keen to stress the possible peaceful applications of this technology. Scott Wilson, of the Cajunbot team from the University of Louisianna, at Lafayette, spent days in a boat helping to rescue people from flooded areas of New Orleans. He saw at first hand how fears over softy slowed and in some cases halted rescue work. With driver-less vehicles, rescue might have come sooner. BBC | ||||||
If we can take a logistics vehicle and drive it across an environment like that in Iraq and save lives that's worth a lot of technology investment. 
How cool. Let the military sponsor it and let capitalist entrepreneurs build it. You have to love it.
Posted by: Phoenix | 10/08/2005 at 06:05 PM