From: Jef Allbright (jef@jefallbright.net)
Date: Fri Feb 21 2003 - 11:01:07 MST
Thought this article from today's LA Times might be of interest:
"Think winning $1 million for racing a robocar.
That will be the Pentagon's unlikely pitch to more than 200 potential
participants Saturday in Los Angeles at the announcement of a public
competition to build and race unmanned ground vehicles from Los Angeles to
Las Vegas in March 2004.
The rules are simple. "No humans or other biological entities" allowed
onboard. No radio or remote controls. No attacking other vehicles. And
please, no flamethrowers or other devices that "clear a path by setting
everything in its way on fire." Pretty much anything else goes.
The race, called the Grand Challenge, is the brainchild of the Defense
Advanced Research Projects Agency, or Darpa, the $2-billion whiz-bang shop
at the Pentagon that helped create the Internet, Stealth aircraft, "smart"
bombs and the pilotless Predator plane.
The goal this time is to meet a congressional mandate, set in 2000, that at
least one in three future army battle systems be unmanned. Despite huge
advances in civilian and military robotics in recent years, the necessary
sensors, software and other technology for real robot-assisted warfare
doesn't yet exist."
Link to full article:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-race21feb21,1,5698431.s
tory
Link to announcement on DARPA web site:
http://www.darpa.mil/grandchallenge/overview.htm
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