Robot Racers
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NASCAR it wasn't. But for those interested in what autonomous vehicles can do, the special race recently run in California's Mojave Desert was an eye-opening event. The race was dubbed the Grand Challenge and sponsored by the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Fifteen teams were cleared to compete during the week-long Qualification, Inspection, and Demonstration period just before the race. With a million dollars in prize money on the line, the stakes were high.
During the months leading up to the race, teams were required to submit technical papers about their entries. These weren't remote-controlled vehicles; they had to be able to navigate the course and avoid obstacles by themselves. To do this, many used various kinds of sensors (such as infrared), as well as GPS devices. To win the race, a vehicle had to navigate the 140-plus mile course (from Barstow, CA, to Primm, NV) in the quickest time within a specific 10-hour period. The teams competed for pride, glory -- and a million-dollar prize purse.
Sadly, not a one completed the course. Of the fifteen vehicles that were cleared to compete, only thirteen actually started the race -- two, including a riderless motorcycle, pulled out before then. Of the rest, an assortment of Humvees, pickup trucks, and dune buggies, roughly half didn't even make it further than a mile; many of those didn't make it out of the starting area. Only four vehicles made it more than five miles. The most promising one, a modified Humvee fielded by the Red Team, drove nearly seven and a half miles before it went off course, caught itself on an obstacle, and had one of its front wheels catch fire. Talk about a bad day!
Most of the other entries experienced even worse difficulties -- throttle problems, unexpected backing up, barbed wire, fuel leaks, brakes locking up, not finding the route, and simply getting stuck. And these folks weren't a bunch of amateurs. Granted, one team was from Palos Verdes High School (and no one would have cheered harder than me for them to win, except maybe their parents), but the stringent rules and qualifications run to 28 pages -- all but guaranteed to keep out the casual.
Next: Go Team Go >>
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