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Civilian-ELROB, the European Land Robot Trial
DARPA, eat your heart out. First Europe develops Galileo as an alternative to US owned and operated GPS, and now they're thumbing their nose at the Grand Challenge with the C-ELROB, or Civilian European Land-Robot Trial. The autonomous vehicle challenge will is currently being organized by the European Robotics Group, and will be hosted by the school with the longest name evar, SUPSI-iCIMSI (University for Applied Sciences of Southern Switzerland, CIM Institute for Applied Computer Science and Industrial Technology) in Monte Ceneri, Ticino, Switzerland. It looks like there will be both unmanned ground and airborne challenges in a variety of locales (including urban), and maybe, just maybe "there might be prize money" for the winner! (Well, is there or isn't there? We hear it's kind of a big deal when undertaking a freaking robot car.) The event won't take place until August of 2007, but already our money's on Scientology's supersmart droidcar, the ELROB H.U.B.B.A.R.D.[Via Gizmag]
German army hosts military bot "competition"
In an effort to remind other countries developing fully automated combat forces -- like the US, India, and South Korea -- that "ve Germans are not all smiles and sunshine," the European powerhouse held its first Grand Challenge-like competition this week, where autonomous robots brought in from around the continent showed off their driving, surveillance, and urban warfare skillz. It's actually a bit misleading to call the first European Land Robot Trial (ELROB) -- which was hosted by the German army, or Bundeswehr. in the town of Hammelburg -- a competition, as participants were not eligible for any prizes or supply contracts, and even had to pay their own expenses, all in the hope that the 1,000-or-so venture capitalists and foreign military attaches on hand would take notice of their technology. Both amateur and professional roboticists entered their creations (which curiously, were required to house a small animal -- don't ask us) in one of two obstacle courses designed to simulate either combat driving or building infiltration -- tasks which were made even more difficult due to the fact that mission specifics were not revealed prior to the event. Although Germany has yet to even appropriate a portion of its budget to research in this area, military officials are optimistic that robotic support vehicles will be deployed to the armed forces within five years.[Via Hindustan Times]
