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The biggest robot contest, next installment
July 23, 2008

RoboCars Episode 5
The DARPA Urban Challenge is an international competition to develop a truly autonomous vehicle: a car that can think and drive itself.  The first place prize is $2-million cash, second place is $1-million, and third place is $500,000. Itʼs the third robotics competition sponsored by the Pentagon's research arm, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The first two were in the desert. This challenge, however, takes place in an urban environment requiring the “robocars” to have more sophisticated driving skills.  A total of 89 teams entered, including defense contractors, large universities, small colleges and entrepreneurial teams. This episode follows 10 teams as they ready their “robocars” for their site visits and attempt to perform four test missions for DARPA observers. Then, weʼll follow the qualifying teams to Victorville, California for an intense week of testing at the national semi-finals where bots are tested in three different areas. Only a handful are selected to go on to the final race, which plays out over a 60-mile course on a single, dramatic and tension-filled day. The winners of the DARPA Urban Challenge are finally named.

GO ROBOTS !

Paul F. Grayson - Chief Engineer
AMERICAN INDUSTRIAL MAGIC, LLC
Racing to build technology that saves lives.
390 4-Mile Rd. S.
Traverse City, MI 49686-8411
(231) 946-0187, (231) 883-4463 Cell
pgrayson@aimagic.org
AIM: http://aimagic.org
Robot Club:http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/robotcluboftraversecitymi/
CE Magazine: http://www.controleng.com/blog/1180000318.html
pfg: (s), (l), tt

Posted by Paul Grayson on July 23, 2008 | Comments (1)