DARPA Challenge - Robot controlled car race

From: Jef Allbright (jef@jefallbright.net)
Date: Fri Feb 21 2003 - 11:01:07 MST

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    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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