Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

CMU First To Qualify For DARPA Grand Challenge

Posted by timothy on from the pole-position dept.

Anonymous Coward writes "As of 18:00 March 9th, Carnegie Mellon's Red Team is the only entry to successfully complete DARPA's Grand Challenge Qualification Inspection and Demonstration (QID) before the main event on March 13th. The NY Times has this article detailing this first step towards winning the Grand Challenge."

1 of 210 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Interesting, but ... by Belisarivs · · Score: 5, Interesting
    But let's face it, this contest isn't about finding cheaper ways to haul cargo or reach remote locations.

    Sure it is. Logistics are a *huge* problem for the military, especially one that moves as fast as America's. Remember in Gulf War II that some of the most public incidents of American losses involved supply convoys, not front-line forces.

    With this sort of technology, supply-lines become more like conveyor belts than masses of convoys. They elminate the need to teams of humans to transport fuel, water, ammunition, etc. to the front lines. This increases the pool of human resources available to the military for other jobs, while eliminating the worry of casualities inflicted by enemy interdiction missions.

    Sure, automatic tanks will logically be a followup, but I think the military's mid-term goal is automating the logistics.