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PS3 Enters DARPA Urban Challenge
billdar writes "Terrasoft Solutions posted an article on their development
of a stereo vision object detection system built upon Sony's PS3 for Axion Racing's entry into the DARPA Urban Challenge. The PS3 running Yellow Dog Linux replaced one of the on-board Dell servers to process the realtime stereoscopic sensor data. The whole system was developed and integrated onto the vehicle in ten days. So far, Spirit has been making the competition's highlight reels."
This Prius had a more spectacular escape attempt. Personally, though, I'm rooting for Team Oshkosh, formerly Team Terramax. They completed the grand challenge course (one of only 4 to do so), but they took way too long to place so here's hoping they do better this year! Oh, and here's hoping they're quick on the kill switch if that monster of a truck glitches out...
Demented But Determined.
...and jump out of the vehicle and beat up a hooker?
"As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly." A. Carlson
Being amazed that a 450W computer ... can compute things?
It's not like this is a Z-80 with 8KB of ram.
Someday, I'll have a real sig.
Can the SPEs be accessed through YDL? If not, this isn't terribly exciting.
At least someone found something to do with the surplus PS3's cause lord knows they aren't being used for gaming. First a "supercomputer", now DARPA, next THE WORLD! *Cue Pinky and the Brain theme music
I'll meet you at the intersection of "Should be" and "Reality"
Makes the new DS3 rumble pack rather reduntant now doesn't it?
How does he plan on syncing the frames? No mention is made of this, and all examples are taken from static environments. Disparity maps are all but useless if there is much change in position (e.g. on a moving vehicle) between frame acquisitions.
Particularly to note that this Xbox 360 has helped Sony innovate (and Sony was encouragement for Nintendo to innovate).
Microsoft spent a lot of money to beat Sony, and they will expect me and other gamers to give them that money back. Then they will use that money to build TVs or something.
But I think that eventually a company becomes too unfocused and large and becomes inneffective. Look at Office 2007. Vista is more of a flop than XP ever was. They need to focus on Windows and Office if they expect to keep their advantage. And of course, so much of Microsoft's software is competing with OK free stuff.
Can Sonybeat Microsoft? Of course not. Can Sony beat Microsoft in one area while Google beats Microsoft in another and Ubuntu and Apple beat Microsoft in another? Yep. That's why companies have to stay focused. Google looked at all the crazy crap they were doing and reduced the number of apps they were working on. For good reason.
So while Microsoft dominated the floppy disk era, things are starting to turn around (precisely why Microsoft has decided to diversify in such a broad way). I firmly believe that the world will be ok if Microsoft wins these console wars. Someone will come up with something cheap and fun.
For the PS3, these are the games I'd recommend if you insist on getting one:
You might also want to look at the following games. They are neat, but have serious flaws:
So there are three really good games, and a bunch of games that are acceptable. On the other hand, the Wii has stuff like Zelda, Resident Evil 4, Metroid Prime 3, Super Paper Mario, Wario Ware, Trauma Center, Mario Strikers, Rayman, Wii Sports, Elebits, Excite Truck, Super Monkey Ball, finally a good 3D Sonic... and that doesn't even include any of the VC games. As of now the Wii simply has the better game selection, and it looks like the gap is widening as franchises are moving to the Wii (Monster Hunter), while Sony has trouble keeping third parties on their console. The sales numbers paint the same picture: While the PS3 has a grand total of two million sellers (Motorstorm and Resistance), the Wii has at least nine.
Like I said: Even though I own a PS3, I would not recommend it to anyone. I think there's a good chance that it'll end up this generation's Gamecube: A few awesome first-party titles, but few third-party titles, and the third-party titles it gets are crappy ports from other consoles.
> It would be nice to know whether you people think it is reasonable to own a 360 and still be
> opposing MS and its associated business methods.
Yes, because I don't really believe in the political consumer. I believe a good citizen should use his wallet to buy the legal goods he find the best value, and his vote to get the politicians who will protect the market from trusts, and ensure the goods are produced ethically. The market works best that way.
And if you want to play politics with your wallet, it should be as part of an organized effort, with carefully selected high profile targets. Otherwise, it isn't going to have any effect.
I'd not buy an XBox 360, but only because my main requirement for a game console would be that it should be silent.