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CMU First To Qualify For DARPA Grand Challenge
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."
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One of the other competitors is from my university. Looking at the relative sizes, I hope the hummer in the article doesn't get in TerraMax's way.
I can't be the only one who questions motives when the $1M prize is being sought after by a team with more than $2M already invested. What is the eventual payoff?
Linux: Free if your time is worthless.
The real prizes:
the knowledge gained throughout the project
getting one's name published for taking an active role in the project (which can lead to further opportunities)
the overall experience, i.e. 'Hey, I did that"
The pursuit of intellectual challenge is not about money...
I want to drag this out as long as possible. Bring me my protractor.
they divided your time by the cost of your machine.
its impressive when you build a mega$ robot, but a minimal robot that manages to finish is way cooler
... doesn't this basically lead directly to the US military dropping off Robo-Tanks in foreign countries as they please? We know that a steady diet of wars figure heavily in the plan for the forseeable future. The Robo-Tank cuts down on friendly casualties, thus making conflicts more palatable to the public.
Now I find this as cool as anyone else, from a technological standpoint. And it definitely has civilian applicability. But let's face it, this contest isn't about finding cheaper ways to haul cargo or reach remote locations.
I would sure hate to be a geologist, prospector, or hermit in the desert that day.
Gelogist: [mumbling to himself] Finally! Proof that the formation of this arroyo was caused by--
[Geologist is flattened by an army of driverless cars driving at upwards of 60 mph, one of which detects the collision too late and actually backs up, running over him again, as failing avoidance mechanisms kick in]
Any generalization is a stupid one.
The Qualification Inspection and Demonstration was rumored to be the state's Driver's License Test.
The vehicles had been fretting about the dreaded parallel parking portion of the test.
From what I understand, the "loophole" allows them to use 1m satellite imagery of the route and, in two hours, plan something for the robot to follow. The robot still has to see its way when it's going, to avoid ditches and rocks and other things--it needs to do "local" route planning at 35mph. Even if the route were totally pre-programmed, the problem of following that route would still be pretty hard over hundreds of miles. You can't just do "dead reckoning."
What about if they invade somewhere they don't have good maps of? Somewhere with a dynamic landscape (desert, rocks etc)?
This is in the desert, and they're doing it with only satellite imagery.
There's a huge amount of mechanical and software engineering in this thing. I think that someone must have exaggerated this "loophole" to you, because it is far from making the project easy (as far as I know, it doesn't help them in the quals at all). The robot is impressive!
All competitors are given the actual route as a series of GPS waypoints a few hours prior to the race. Red Team is going to send those waypoints back to CMU, have the big iron there figure out the best course based on all the map data, and then download that course to the robot prior to the start. In a way this is cool, but it seems like they are using a loophole. A much more interesting problem would be to navigate a course that you know nothing about other than the waypoints.
The other teams are using techniques that require more onboard intelligence and route finding. The most interesting vehicle is from Cal. They have a motorcycle. Even though I went to Stanford I am rooting for the Cal motorcycle to do well since they have the most unique vehicle. Hopefully the team of Stanford alums (already dropped out) can come back next year and beat them.
Lasers Controlled Games!
Weird title, seeing how they showcase the CMU entry, a high-school entry running in an Acura (donated by a parent who works for Honda) and a single-member "team" trying to do a motorcycle entry.
It's all about CAFE. Dodge's PT Cruiser is listed as a light truck too -- it's got a flat-load floor between the rear wheels. Dodge puts a four cylinder in the PT, which gets 30 MPG. This allows them to make even more fuel-hungry trucks and SUVs because their combined average is offset by the relatively high efficiency PT.
From http://www.darpa.mil/grandchallenge/media_feeds.ht m
On Saturday, March 13, DARPA will provide same-day coverage via satellite of the Grand Challenge start and highlights at the following times:
Live coverage of the start: 6:30 - 8:30 Pacific/9:30 - 11:30 a.m. Eastern
Video news release: 11:00 - 11:30 a.m. Pacific/2:00 - 2:30 p.m. Eastern
Coordinates for both feeds:
Satellite: AMC 9, Ku, Transponder 03
Space is: 36 MHz
Downlink Frequency: 11760.000
Downlink Polarity: Vertical
Hopefully someone will record these feeds and make them available online for all of us without satellite
Rapidly approaching the Zener knee...
That's another thing - they only look the part - if a mountain popped up you'd have more chance getting over it by foot than a humvee. They use Tacoma or Silverado chassis and engines
Whoa. Only half true.
The original Hummer/Humvee (Hummer is the civilian version, HMMWV is the military) is a serious off-road vehicle and far surpasses most SUVs and other off-road vehicles in capabilities. It also costs around $125k (civilian version). It'll keep going long after that Range Rover gets stuck or busts its oil casing.
The H2, aka Hummer2, however, is another story entirely. It is, as you say, merely a Tacoma with a different body shell. The original Tacoma wasn't particularly off-road capable and the reshelled version is even less so. But it's only about $60k.
IMO, neither the original nor the bastardized step-son is particularly well suited for general civilian use. But that's me.
with this is simply how cheap the US military is getting away with this
Getting away with what? Basic R&D?
So you'd rather have them spend a few billion on a single supplier, who may not be able to deliver anything, and then keep all the technology as classified for an unknown period of time? Yeah, that's a great use of taxpayer money.
Instead, they put out a challenge that allows both public and private industry to participate. Any useful technology could be immediately spun off for commercial use, and considerably less taxpayer funds are used (yes, public universities will use some taxpayer money as well, but it pales in comparison to the alternative).
Oh, and they're still not "getting away" with anything. DARPA doesn't automatically get the technology. If they get a winner then they'll have to negotiate licensing terms.
Man, these teams are using the wrong military vehicles. Humvees? Supply trucks? What the hell is that? Seriously man, strap a GPS system onto an M1 Abrams and open that baby up.
I say screw collision avoidance. Go for collision dominance. Any obstacle capable of stopping a 65 ton tank travelling at 45mph is gonna show up on the mother f**king map.
Here are some photos:
DARPA Grand Challenge Photos
Enjoy!