I just got back from the Mojave Desert. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Grand Challenge today ended with none of the entries able to finish the race. In the end, 15 Entries qualified during the last week to compete for the $1 million prize given to -- not the fastest, but the best entry as judged by DARPA in the 142-mile race across the Mojave Desert. The race was over in about four hours after each entry was shut down by one problem or another.
Teams were given digital maps and GPS "waypoints" on CD two hours before the race began. Each robot was trailed by a truck driven by a professional off-road racer and a passenger representing DARPA, who held a remote gadget for "killing" or "stalling" the vehicle.
The race started at 6:30am when the race favorite, Carnegie Mellon's $3 million Hummer called Sandstorm perfectly exited the starting area and sailed into the desert. Despite the incredible attention given to the vehicles advanced navigation and other electronics, it was done in by its tires, which caught on fire after hitting an obstacle 7.4 miles into the course.
The second longest run was SciAutonicsII, which made it to 6.7 miles before veering into an embankment and becoming stuck.
The breaks on Virginia Tech's golf cart robot locked up a few seconds after starting. It sat there right in front of me with the engine smoking under the strain. Palos Verdes High School's Acura robot, designed by kids who don't even have drivers licenses, crashed into a cement barrier immediately after starting. One turtle-shaped robot got off to an impressive start, but then flipped over onto its side about three hundred yards into the race. A six-wheeled vehicle became entangled in barbed wire and had to be cut free.
Team TerraHawk and the only motorcycle in the race, called the Ghost Rider, scratched at the last minute.
Because nobody finished, DARPA will probably hold another contest in 2006.
Here are the pictures I took at the event.
Raw Feed Archives
Mike's List Archives
Recommend
to a friend
If
you don't have anything nice to say, say it to me!
Send rumors, gossip and inside information to: 83@mikeslist.com
Go
here to keep Mike's List Ad-Free
Want
to get healthy, lose weight and feel great? Subscribe to
Vegetarian Organic Life, published by Mike's vegetarian
organic wife, Amira!
