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Stanford readies entry for 2005 DARPA challenge race
See
http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2005/may18/darpasr-051805.html or http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/05/050522202034.htm: Standford has a VW Touareg for their 2005 entry, and are very confident. And yes, it does have test time before the race (so did the front runners of last year's event) Be interesting to see how the various teams do...I'd like to hear more about how the CMU team is leveraging last year's experience, but the Stanford team will certainly be one to keep an eye on. quote In a field that includes military vehicles and bizarre Frankentrucks, Stanford's robotic entry, nicknamed Stanley, is a sophisticated family car that wouldn't look out of place at a Palo Alto shopping mall. It's a gray Volkswagen Touareg, a state-of-the-art sport utility vehicle modified with oversized wheels, a reinforced bumper and a protective metal plate under the car. The fuel-efficient turbodiesel engine allows the vehicle to complete a 10-hour race and power all its electronics on a single tank of gas. And unlike many competitors, Stanley is fully street legal. "That was an important design constraint to facilitate the testing of the robot," said vehicle lead Cedric Dupont of Volkswagen. To do trial runs, team members pile into the car, drive to Barstow, Calif. (an off-roading mecca outside Los Angeles), and set Stanley loose. /quote and "The only information DARPA has released about this year's course is that it will start in Southern California. For Stanley's maiden voyage in December, the vehicle drove the first 8.5 miles of the 2004 course. At one point the robot slowly navigated a tricky curve, bumping down a rocky dirt road with a sharp drop-off to one side, while team members watched from a distance. Although the team didn't put the Touareg through the entire 2004 racecourse, this early display of autonomous ability showed Stanley to be a contender." and "On May 10, the team met DARPA officials in Barstow for a site visit, during which Stanley successfully navigated a trash-can-littered course. This qualifying round will narrow the field to 40 teams. Another qualifier in September will further winnow the contestants to 20 finalists. DARPA officials are not allowed to comment on the visits until June 1, but Stanford team members returning last week were overjoyed. The robot's performance, they said, was "flawless."" /dps |
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snidely wrote:
See http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2005/may18/darpasr-051805.html or http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/05/050522202034.htm: Standford has a VW Touareg for their 2005 entry, and are very confident. Oops -- s/b "Stanford" Also, the post for "Oshkosh Trucks, the developer of the TerraMax entry" was in sci.space.tech: http://groups-beta.google.com/group/sci.space.tech/msg/911957a4e494db45 /dps |
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On Mon, 23 May 2005 19:06:04 -0500, "snidely"
wrote: See http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2005/may18/darpasr-051805.html or http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/05/050522202034.htm: Standford has a VW Touareg for their 2005 entry, and are very confident. And yes, it does have test time before the race (so did the front runners of last year's event) Be interesting to see how the various teams do...I'd like to hear more about how the CMU team is leveraging last year's experience, but the Stanford team will certainly be one to keep an eye on. CMU is entering 2 vehicles this time around, Sandstorm and H1ghlander http://www.redteamracing.org I expect the competition will be much fiercer than last year and I wouldn't be all that surprised if more than 1 team completes the course. 130 more days. |
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L Sternn wrote:
[...] CMU is entering 2 vehicles this time around, Sandstorm and H1ghlander http://www.redteamracing.org Thanks! I expect the competition will be much fiercer than last year and I wouldn't be all that surprised if more than 1 team completes the course. 130 more days. And just a few all-nighters, I bet! /dps |
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