Control Engineering

Paul Grayson

Technology Transfer Seminar - Prep.
January 30, 2008

The IVTT Seminar's Dinner & Networking event is going to be at the Holliday Inn in Gaithersburg, MD, just a few minutes away from NIST. 

2008 IVTT PRESENTERS
1.  Charles Shoemaker, Director of Research and Development, GD Robotic Systems
2.  Cliff Hudson, Deputy for Business, SPAWAR
3.  Dennis Majkowski, President, AUVSI
4.  Elena Messina, Acting Chief, Intelligent Systems Division, NIST
5.  Ellen Purdy, Director, Joint Ground Robotics Enterprise, OSD
6.  Glenn Rossi, Manager, Future Combat Systems Program, Boeing
7.  James Albus, Senior NIST Fellow, NIST
8.  James McBride, Technical Expert, Ford Motor Co.
9.  John Beck, Chief Engineer for Unmanned Vehicles, Oshkosh Truck Corp.
10.  Norm Whitaker, Special Assistant to the Director, DARPA
11.  Robert Finkelstein, President, Robotic Technology Inc.
12.  Rochelle Sobel, President, Assoc. for Safe Int’l Road Travel
13.  Roger Bostelman, Manager, Intelligent Control of Mobility Systems, NIST
14.  Scott Belcher, President, ITS America
15.  Scott J. McCormick, President, Connected Vehicle Association
16.  TBD, Congressional Staff Member
17.  TBD, General Motors
18.  TBD
19.  Yehuda Gross, Manager, DOT Intelligent Transportation Systems JPO 

PROGRAM NOTES
I have contacted each of the presenters and requested an advance copy of their presentation and a short Bio.  The Bio's are starting to arrive.  Most presenters have replied that they plan to grab a box of slides on the way out the door and write their presentaion while they wait at the airport and on the flight to DC.   I guess that means that we who attend are sure to get the most up to date info rather than a canned presentation that may have gone out of date.  Others said that their presentations will be tied up in their legal departments until the last moment, being reviewed.  

TRANSPORTATION FROM THE AIRPORT TO THE HOTEL
While I have traveled a great deal and great distances, I do not travel well.  In researching this trip, here is some hard to find information about getting from the aiports to the Holiday Inn near NIST that I found.  One person said the Shuttle from the airports is called "Blue Van".   Reservations for people attending the Bot seminar are $122 per night and there is a free shuttle to the seminar at NIST.

Reagan Washington National  (DCA)  Distance: 22 MI North West  to Hotel
• Shuttle  $30.00  
• Taxi $50.00   Time by taxi:  35 minutes
• Train $6.00   Time by train:  60 minutes 
Washington Dulles Int'l  (IAD)  Distance: 32 MI  North  to Hotel
• Shuttle $32.00  
• Taxi $60.00    Time by taxi:  50 minutes 
Thurgood Marshall - Baltimore BWI  (BWI)  Distance: 40 MI  West  to Hotel
• Shuttle $36.00 
• Taxi $75.00   Time by taxi:  50 minutes 
Train
• Station Name:  Rockville AMTRAK  Distance: 6 MI North  to Hotel
• Complimentary Train Station Shuttle
• Taxi From Train Station  $15.00 
• Subway Station Name:  Shady Grove Metro - Red Line
• Complimentary Subway Station Shuttle
• Taxi From Subway Station  $12.00  
Holiday Inn Complimentary Local Area Shuttle
• Radius 5.0 MI


Here is a picture of the dining room at the Holliday Inn where the buffet dinner & networking event will be held.

NAV
I have been getting familiar with the NAV system that I will be trying out this trip.  My desk here at AIM HQ is at N 44^o 40.830'; W 85^o 32.212  This is just a bit different from where the digital maps say that the AIM workshop is.  The registration of the online digital maps are about half a block out of register with where GPS says the shop is.  I have sent correction notes to the online map services.  In the past they had corrected errors I reported in about one week. When digital maps are out of register with the real world, real world wins in any data contest.  The system has so many features built into it that it is taking me a while to learn them.   Starting th new inverter is done by pressing the bule power indicator light which flashes red for a second then starts providing power to the laptop.  Reverse course, clear track, find next gas station are things I remember having done when going through the tutorial but will need to practice to become proficient at.   I am not yet using the speech recognition portion of the system yet.  That part of my training starts tomorrow using a headset that cancels out road noise.  Although this is the 2008 edition of the software and maps, the system wanted to route me through a piece of road that has been a lake for several years.  

2007 DARPA URBAN CHALLENGE


Intelligent Vehicle Systems' truck named  "XAV-250". Small black squares are radars.
This was a combination of  Honeywell, Delphi, and Ford companies.
Photo by AIM Team members Linda and Tom Graham.

GO ROBOTS !

Paul F. Grayson - Chief Engineer
AMERICAN INDUSTRIAL MAGIC, LLC
Racing to build technology that saves soldier's lives.
390 4-Mile Rd. S.
Traverse City, MI 49686-8411
(231) 946-0187, (231) 883-4463 Cell
pgrayson@aimagic.org
http://aimagic.org
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/robotcluboftraversecitymi/
http://www.controleng.com/index.asp?layout=blog&blog_id=1180000318

Posted by Paul Grayson on January 30, 2008 | Comments (0)