Control Engineering

Paul Grayson

Horse Sense
November 12, 2007

2007 DARPA URBAN CHALLENGE
The goal of the field of Artificial Intelligence is to make machines smart.  When talking about how smart machines already are the debate is which bug their intelligence is equal to.  For our transportation system we want to get to the level of horse sense but even that could be a little shy of what is needed in our cars busses and trucks.  For those of you who were at the opening ceremony of the 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge you saw an example of horse sense in action.  For those of you who were not there the horses of the mounted color guard would not cross the checkered patch of finish line pavement at the entrance to the reviewing area.  The horses refused to cross it.  They had to be backed up and enter the reviewing area through the other entrance without checked pavement.  Something about the black and white squares on the pavement registered in the horses mind that this is not a good place to walk.  DARPA learned something they did not know about horses.  Good thing the driverless vehicles didn't refuse to cross that finish line - that would have been interesting with millions of dollars in prize money at stake.



HERE AT AIM
Linda dropped off her notes from the Victorville race, a bag of things she and Tom picked up from the various teams and sponsors at the Urban Challenge, a disk with the 2,500 pictures they took to share with the readers here and another bag of literature from the teams for me to sift through for technical insights.  A mason jar - filled with the smoke filled air of Victorville was not among the souvenirs although it should have been.  Perhaps next time. The final bill for the trip came to $1,850.  We have to figure out how to pay this off and other AIM Team expenses as our all-volunteer not-for-profit continues to work on an improved driverless system, work that we all will benefit from.  The new "Untamed Desert" and white paint job makes the truck look very impressive.  Watch for it on the road soon.





WHEN OLD AGV EXPERTS RETIRE
Dennis Myers used to be a field service rep for AGV's in all of Michigan, if I remember the story right.  His contention is that field service techs bridge the gap between the engineers who designed it and the customer that can't seem to get it to work.  In short the field service guys are the ones that make it work - they do that by knowing more about how the thing works, it's quirks and eccentricities than anyone else.  He was involved in the early years of wringing the bugs out of the early models and first installations.  Now that the industry has matured - and he has aged - he has moved on to other pursuits. You might say he tried to get as far away from anything high tech as he could.  He has a cattle ranch, a Christmas tree farm, two Army surplus stores (they are across the street from each other in Copemish, MI so it is easy for him to keep an eye on both) and assorted other enterprises.  That is common in this part of the state in that many businesses are seasonal and no one occupation seems to be able to support a person full time here.  Everyone has two or three jobs to make ends meet.  His surplus store advertises the cartoon inspired military arctic boots: "Mickey Mouse Boots - Guaranteed Warm Feet."  If you are selling insulated boots what better guarantee could you make?  I was referred to him when I started this project six years ago as a local expert on the subject of automating vehicles.  He refused to come out of retirement to help us build our AGV WENDY DARLING, but did loan us one of his several surplus Army trucks to experiment with, a very nice M-35A which he later sold to a local timber harvesting company.  To make his business card stand out in the Olive Drab world of military surplus sales, it is bright pink - ask him for one, it is certain to become a collector's item.  I thought maybe some of CE's older readers might remember him from the early days of AGV's and would like to know what he is up to now.   What do you  have planned for your retirement? 

GOOGLE LUNAR X-PRIZE UPDATE
When I asked how many teams have signed up for the race I was told none but that "Several teams have signed “Letters of Intent” but they are not fully registered yet. We aren’t at liberty to say who they are as many will want to make a larger media opportunity of their announcement."
  -- Sarah Z. Evans, Vice President - X PRIZE Foundation | Communications  

GO ROBOTS !

Posted by Paul Grayson on November 12, 2007 | Comments (0)