AIMing for Automated Vehicles 
Recent Posts
- Fallout from AUVSI newsletter
- It Is A Digital World
- Governors
- Adaptive Cruise Control
- Crisis at AIM
- Beating Plowshares Into Swords
- Robots Earn Their Stripes
- What happened since Friday?
- last day to get ready
- 3 days to get ready
Recent Comments
- haider alharby on Adaptive Cruise Control
- Mark on Applied Robotics
- highvoltagepowerlineman at msn.com on Truck Driver Shortage
- highvoltagepowerlineman at msn.com on Truck Driver Shortage
- highvoltagepowerlineman at msn.com on Precision Farming
Most Commented On
- Applied Robotics (4)
- Truck Driver Shortage (2)
- Adaptive Cruise Control (1)
- Precision Farming (1)
- THE UNKNOWN (1)
Archives
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
- August 2007
- July 2007
- June 2007
- April 2007
Blog
Link This | Email this | Blog This | Comments (0)
AIM Update
SEE YOU AT THE FAIR
While at the Kalkaska County Fair this week, stop by our booth to see Linda's Power Point Presentation and get your copy of Jessica Lynch's autobiography I AM A SOLDIER TOO. Get a free AIMAGIC.ORG bumper sticker and our contact information. Meet Linda and some of the other AIM volunteers. Ask Linda about Jessica Lynch. Ask me about a tour of our Traverse City workshop to see the progress we have made on our truck - I would be glad to show it to you. We are at the fair to let people know that they can fight terrorism from here on the homefront by helping my team. Ask Linda about joining our team to help save soldiers lives.
PLOWSHARES TO SWORDS PROJECT
While you might think that something high tech like a computer driving a US Army supply truck would be out of place at a 4-H Agricultural Fair, it turns out that agricultural tractors drive themselves now a days and "precision farming" means guiding farm equipment within half an inch of the intended position using GPS and inertial guidance. Ground speed of a tractor is often measured using a dopplar shif sensing radar. We are litterally outfitting our truck with tractor parts so you might say we are beating plowshares into swords when converting farming equipment into things for the US Army to use in defending the USA.
SMART WEAPONS - SMART TRUCKS
The US Army has had smart weapons for a long time now. It is just recently that they realized that they need smart supply trucks. Driverless supply trucks in Iraq would save an Army driver's life a day, like Jessica Lynch - she was a 19 year old US Army truck driver. Her biography is required reading here for AIM Team members. Not only does it give a clear picture of who the US Army drivers we are designing for, but also many of the desert conditions and operational considerations.
Converting our Army supply truck (Automatic Guided Vehicle AGV WENDY DARLING) to driverless operation for this demonstration requires large amounts of Money, Manpower and Materials. Even small donations are important. As one volunteer said "every drop helps fill the bucket." Based on what experimental projects and prototypes cost in the past we estimate that our R&D conversion will cost about $5 million dollars in cash and donated items. For manpower we estimate that it will take about 10 man-years. Other team leaders estimates for their projects have come very close to these same figures. We have gone a step farther and looked at what the production version might cost. It looks like a US Army supply truck could be converted to driverless operation for about $35,000 each or about 10% of what an Army supply truck costs when done in bulk working from proven design. Ten percent of the overall cost seems like a reasonable figure for a major option on a vehicle.
WWII poster message that still applies.
THE COST OF DOING BUSINESS
While not being funded by the US Government allows us complete design freedom it also means that we have to raise our own money. We traded one of five back-pack-blowers donated to us, sold one for cash on E-bay this week, have three more yet to sell. Since these are in good working used condition and new ones cost $300 we hope this will bring in some of the cash the team needs. Compare this to the fact that 1 GB RAM costs about $60 on sale. Super-single tires for our truck cost $500 each, rims cost $279.
AIM Team powered by Back-Pack-Blowers (as a source of income).
RECRUITING
My new approach is to recruit people for what day of the week they can work. As the first one in this program I just signed up Joseph Brorby - as a Monday 5 pm - 9 pm person.
Newest AIM Team member - Joseph Brorby - Technical writer.
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
(231) 946-0187, (231) 883-4463 Cell
pgrayson@aimagic.org
http://aimagic.org
AIM Update
July 30, 2007
SEE YOU AT THE FAIRWhile at the Kalkaska County Fair this week, stop by our booth to see Linda's Power Point Presentation and get your copy of Jessica Lynch's autobiography I AM A SOLDIER TOO. Get a free AIMAGIC.ORG bumper sticker and our contact information. Meet Linda and some of the other AIM volunteers. Ask Linda about Jessica Lynch. Ask me about a tour of our Traverse City workshop to see the progress we have made on our truck - I would be glad to show it to you. We are at the fair to let people know that they can fight terrorism from here on the homefront by helping my team. Ask Linda about joining our team to help save soldiers lives.
PLOWSHARES TO SWORDS PROJECT
While you might think that something high tech like a computer driving a US Army supply truck would be out of place at a 4-H Agricultural Fair, it turns out that agricultural tractors drive themselves now a days and "precision farming" means guiding farm equipment within half an inch of the intended position using GPS and inertial guidance. Ground speed of a tractor is often measured using a dopplar shif sensing radar. We are litterally outfitting our truck with tractor parts so you might say we are beating plowshares into swords when converting farming equipment into things for the US Army to use in defending the USA.
The US Army has had smart weapons for a long time now. It is just recently that they realized that they need smart supply trucks. Driverless supply trucks in Iraq would save an Army driver's life a day, like Jessica Lynch - she was a 19 year old US Army truck driver. Her biography is required reading here for AIM Team members. Not only does it give a clear picture of who the US Army drivers we are designing for, but also many of the desert conditions and operational considerations.
Converting our Army supply truck (Automatic Guided Vehicle AGV WENDY DARLING) to driverless operation for this demonstration requires large amounts of Money, Manpower and Materials. Even small donations are important. As one volunteer said "every drop helps fill the bucket." Based on what experimental projects and prototypes cost in the past we estimate that our R&D conversion will cost about $5 million dollars in cash and donated items. For manpower we estimate that it will take about 10 man-years. Other team leaders estimates for their projects have come very close to these same figures. We have gone a step farther and looked at what the production version might cost. It looks like a US Army supply truck could be converted to driverless operation for about $35,000 each or about 10% of what an Army supply truck costs when done in bulk working from proven design. Ten percent of the overall cost seems like a reasonable figure for a major option on a vehicle.
WWII poster message that still applies.
THE COST OF DOING BUSINESS
While not being funded by the US Government allows us complete design freedom it also means that we have to raise our own money. We traded one of five back-pack-blowers donated to us, sold one for cash on E-bay this week, have three more yet to sell. Since these are in good working used condition and new ones cost $300 we hope this will bring in some of the cash the team needs. Compare this to the fact that 1 GB RAM costs about $60 on sale. Super-single tires for our truck cost $500 each, rims cost $279.
AIM Team powered by Back-Pack-Blowers (as a source of income).
RECRUITING
My new approach is to recruit people for what day of the week they can work. As the first one in this program I just signed up Joseph Brorby - as a Monday 5 pm - 9 pm person.
Newest AIM Team member - Joseph Brorby - Technical writer.
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
(231) 946-0187, (231) 883-4463 Cell
pgrayson@aimagic.org
http://aimagic.org
Posted by Paul Grayson on July 30, 2007 | Comments (0)
Advertisement
Advertisements
