DARPA Announces 2005 Grand Challenge Semifinalists

Posted by timothy on Monday June 6, 2005 @11:38AM from the batmobile-lost-a-wheel-so-can't-enter dept.

Mockingbird writes "DARPA announced 40 semifinalists for the 2005 Grand Challenge autonomous robot race today. Notable remaining teams include the Carnegie Mellon University Red Team, Stanford Racing and a high school team, the Palos Verde Road Warriors. 78 teams missed the cut. The race, which will take place on Oct. 8, 2005 features a $2 million prize for the first team whose robot crosses 175 miles of the Mojave in under ten hours. The robots must be fully autonomous, with no team intervention allowed once the vehicle is launched. The first race was held in 2003, when the most successful team managed to log only 7.4 miles."

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Re:A few questions... by neuroinf · 2005-06-06 12:13 · Score: 5, Interesting

You need to look at the footage from the last attempts that showed how easily they become stranded on top of fence-posts. You wouldn't think it was possible to destroy a heavy vehicle like that, but a human will back off when hearing the gearbox squeal - not a computer. The vision stuff is an absolute nightmare - any sensor is better than vision. It sure is a serious challenge. I expect maybe 30 miles this time?