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DARPA Robot Contest Update
rbrandis writes "DARPA has selected a wide variety of teams, after a series of last minute rule changes and a solid outpouring of anger, the final list of competitors for DARPA's Grand Challenge robot race has been set with 25 teams preparing to try and win a $1 million prize." The anger is exemplified by submissions like this one: Totally_Lost writes "Last spring we flocked to DARPA's Grand Challenge media event in Los Angeles to be told that they wanted everyone's participation in their Robot race this March. They told us that the race would be open to Mom and Pop garage sized participants - and Lied. This fall, nearly 100 teams completed technical paper submissions, with about half to be eliminated from the $1M prize race because they were too small to be 'real' competitors. Well, the rejected robot racing teams got together in Las Vegas last month, and formed the International Robot Racing Federation. This month IRRF is announcing its first competition with $1M in prizes pledged by sponsors, and lesser prizes too, to be offered in a REAL OPEN Challenge next September (providing the race that DARPA failed to deliver)."
They have always been heretofore so up front and honest. This is truly a departure for the military industrial complex.
I'd help sponsor a robot army that could be marched on Washington. They could all go and try to lift up the Pentagon. Would be quite a sight, put those DARPA jerks in their place, and have a lot more teeth than those damn hippies who tried to levitate the building. Might just get some government contracts out of it, if you're willing to sell out to the man.
Winning team gets classified as enemy combatants, free vacations in Gauntanamo, ceding all prize money and rights to the design. They only winning move is not to play.
Oh great. Just what we need. "Kids will not need parents to drive them somewhere." .. you left off "... and pay attention to what they're doing."
Thanks, no. I don't need any more fucking brats running amok, unsupervised, and screwing with me, my family, or my friends; ruining our otherwise-pleasant outings with their inattentive/non-existant "parents" (for exceptionally loose values of the word "parent") not teaching them right from wrong and how to behave/interact in a civilized society.
Now, if you want a good use then these autonomous robots could be set as hunter/killers for said same parents/offspring. Just be sure that it includes a spatula and baggies for the carnage and cleans up after itself.
-AC
All sorts of heated tempers and a split to a rival federation. All they need now is a few good rants, some cage matches, and one bot hitting another with a chair or something. It'll be a shoe-in for weekend afternoon TV. w00t!
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
...because you never can have too many autonomous bomb-delivery devices.
+1 Insightful, -1 Troll. What can I say, I'm an Insightful Troll.
Whoever modded Mentifex (Arthur Murray) up as +1 Informitive should be smacked. Arthur's so famous as a crackpot poster that he is in fact the reason why comp.ai is now moderated.
I'm sure there's some sort of hilarious parallel that can be drawn between this contest and the Terminator movies, but my brain's dead.
Anybody want to take a stab at it?
You're posting a RFQ for a joke on Slashdot? That's lazy man.