Engadget http://www.engadget.com Engadget http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif Engadget http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/<![CDATA[DARPA's Urban Challenge set to roll Saturday with 11 robotic cars]]>http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/02/darpas-urban-challenge-set-to-roll-saturday-with-11-robotic-car/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/02/darpas-urban-challenge-set-to-roll-saturday-with-11-robotic-car/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/02/darpas-urban-challenge-set-to-roll-saturday-with-11-robotic-car/#comments
Oh man, can you taste it? That oily titanium tang is the smack of robotic cars set for release Saturday in the DARPA Urban Challenge. The final event pits 11 vehicles in competition for a $2 million first, $1M second, and $500k third place prizes. The 60-mile course at the former George Air Force Base in Victorville CA must be successfully navigated in less than 6-hours while avoiding about 50 carbon-based drivers. Can Stanford repeat their 2005 Grand Challenge victory with "Junior" or will Carnegie Mellon's "Boss" (pictured) bust out a BFG-9000 in swift retribution? Tune in Saturday to find out.

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DARPA's Urban Challenge set to roll Saturday with 11 robotic cars originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 02 Nov 2007 09:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>carnegie mellonCarnegieMellonDARPADARPA urban challengeDarpaUrbanChallengestanfordurban challenceUrbanChallenceFri, 02 Nov 2007 09:59:00 EST<![CDATA[Stanford's "Junior" Volkswagen passes first DARPA test]]>http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/15/stanfords-junior-volkswagen-passes-first-darpa-test/http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/15/stanfords-junior-volkswagen-passes-first-darpa-test/http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/15/stanfords-junior-volkswagen-passes-first-darpa-test/#comments
While it shouldn't come as too much of a surprise given that they've already won the 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge, we're sure that the team from Stanford is still pretty stoked that they've passed the first test on the way to DARPA's upcoming Urban Challenge. Or, more specifically, that "Junior" the autonomous Volkswagen Passat passed the test. It apparently wasn't entirely smooth sailing though, as the car got stuck once on a course while passing a car, although it eventually managed to recover -- it never did push it past 15 mph though. As with the other contenders, however, Junior still has a ways to go before the big race, with another, more challenging test in store later this summer that'll narrow the field down to the top thirty.

[Photo courtesy of CNET]

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Stanford's "Junior" Volkswagen passes first DARPA test originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 15 Jun 2007 12:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>darpadarpa urban challengeDarpaUrbanChallengestanfordurban challengeUrbanChallengeFri, 15 Jun 2007 12:19:00 EST<![CDATA[Watch out Stanley, here comes Junior]]>http://www.engadget.com/2007/02/18/watch-out-stanley-here-comes-junior/http://www.engadget.com/2007/02/18/watch-out-stanley-here-comes-junior/http://www.engadget.com/2007/02/18/watch-out-stanley-here-comes-junior/#comments
With the slow vehicle passing and a 50mph speed limit, the 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge didn't entirely seem to set the stage technologically for the 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge, but get ready, Stanford's already prepping, their entrant: Junior. The Volkswagen Passat wagon will be equipped with a 360-degree laser rangefinder, bumper mounted lasers, RADAR, GPS, a network of systems and software powered by Core 2 Duo processors, and hopefully also spinners to distract the competition's junk-ass rides. Junior's mission, if you choose to recall it: drive a simulated urban course 60 miles long; it must obey California state traffic laws, it must not crash, it must be able to operate without GPS, and it must run the course entirely without human input. The $2m at stake for first place is probably not nearly enough to immediately recoup the costs of a bunch of braniac grad students hacking complex AI algos, but it could be the icing on the cake for the current favorite after 2005's Grand Challenge was routed by Junior's pappy, Stanley.

P.S. -CNET has some early pics of Junior's interior and such, check 'em out.

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Watch out Stanley, here comes Junior originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 18 Feb 2007 16:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>aiartificial intelligenceArtificialIntelligencedarpadarpa grand challengedarpa urban challengeDarpaGrandChallengeDarpaUrbanChallengejuniorstanfordstanleySun, 18 Feb 2007 16:23:00 EST<![CDATA[2006 DARPA Grand Challenge teams announced, prize plummets to zero dollars]]>http://www.engadget.com/2006/10/04/2006-darpa-grand-challenge-teams-announced-prize-plummets-to-ze/http://www.engadget.com/2006/10/04/2006-darpa-grand-challenge-teams-announced-prize-plummets-to-ze/http://www.engadget.com/2006/10/04/2006-darpa-grand-challenge-teams-announced-prize-plummets-to-ze/#commentsIf there's one event we look forward to even more than the annual Robocup competition, it's DARPA's Grand Challenge, where teams from academia and corporate America butt heads to see whose autonomous vehicle can complete a previously-unknown course in the shortest amount of time. Since the 2004 Challenge ended in utter disaster (no one even came close to finishing the entire course, and most competitors barely made it past the starting line), DARPA ran the same race in 2005 with much better results: several teams succeeded in crossing the finish line, with Stanford's VW Touareg leading the pack and taking home the two million dollar bounty. Well DARPA must have figured that it had a great source of cheap R&D at its disposal with these Challenges, so this year will see a total of two events -- one up Pike's Peak (already completed) and an urban version of the original scheduled for November 3rd. To that end, the so-called Team A participants for the Urban Challenge have just been announced (including most of the usual suspects) -- these groups will get up to $1 million in development funds before the race even begins -- while the unfunded (and therefore dark horse) Team B applicants will be revealed on October 18th. Although we doubt that most of these competitors are in it for the money, a recent Congressional ruling now prohibits DARPA from offering up cash prizes, so instead, the top three teams this year will all take home shiny new...trophies. Team B wanna-bes have up until the 13th to submit their applications, but now that you know there's no riches or funding involved, you really gotta have a love of the game to participate -- unless those trophies happen to be 24-karat gold and studded with diamonds, that is, in which case they should fetch even more on eBay than Team Buffalo's losing Yamaha ATV from 2005. [Warning: PDF link]

[Via GoRobotics]

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2006 DARPA Grand Challenge teams announced, prize plummets to zero dollars originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 04 Oct 2006 17:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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