Control Engineering

Paul Grayson

Team #08 base17 Robotics
July 13, 2007

Team #08 on my list is "base17 Robotics".   This is what they look like and the neighborhood.  They are working without a million dollar grant from DARPA that eleven of the other teams got.





Here is what they have said about themselves and their approach to solving the problem of how to make a truck driverless: "We're six mad engineers who hear the word impossible and smile...  Here at base17 we are convinced that this problem will not be solved with hundreds of thousands of dollars finding the perfect sensor.  Instead, our resources will be spent on countless hours developing brilliant ideas and their software implementation.  Inexpensive sensors & powerful software is our road to success. What sensors?  Well, our team has vision and so will our 'bot. Best wishes & good luck to everyone."  

Beyond the unusual name of this Westfield IN team we are left with very few clews as to what progress they have made, their source of funding, who their sponsors are, or more detailed information on what skills the team members have.  They have a remarkably sparse web page that consists of only the name and an e-mail address.  The two photographs and their description of themselves on the DARPA website leaves us having to call upon CSI like detective skills to deduce what we can from the evidence.  Comparing the team description to the team picture leads to the conclusion that they use a camera that does not have a timer on it - or lack a tripod.  Only five of the six mentioned are in the picture so one of the team members must be taking the picture.  Would the unusual name of the team also be a clue to how they plan to attack the software problem?  

The truck's name is "over_zero II"; perhaps this is also a clue as to how they are working to solve the problem of getting a truck to drive itself.  The truck looks like it is up to the task of driving 60 miles through city traffic if properly outfitted.  The team not turning up in a Google search is a bad sign.  There should be a paperwork trail left in the wake their progress as they work.  

How would you make a truck driverless?   
Do you have and idea that you want to try out on AIM's AGV WENDY DARLING?

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
pgrayson@aimagic.org
http://aimagic.org

Posted by Paul Grayson on July 13, 2007 | Comments (0)