Darpa Has Four Robotic Vehicles Finish The 132-mile course
Four robotic vehicles finished a Pentagon-sponsored race across the Mojave desert Saturday and achieved a technological milestone by conquering steep drop-offs, obstacles and tunnels over a rugged 132-mile course without a single human command. The vehicles, guided by sophisticated software, gave scientists hope that robots could one day wage battles without endangering soldiers. I wish DARPA was televised as I beleive it would have made good TV for many tech and racing buffs.
Last year’s much-hyped inaugural robot race ended without a winner when all the self-navigating vehicles broke down shortly after leaving the starting gate. Carnegie Mellon’s Sandstorm chugged the farthest at 7 1/2 miles. “The impossible has been achieved,” cried Stanford University’s Sebastian Thrun, after the university’s customized Volkswagen crossed first. Students cheered, hoisting Thrun atop their shoulders. Also finishing was a converted red Hummer named H1ghlander and a Humvee called Sandstorm from Carnegie Mellon University. The Stanford robot dubbed Stanley overtook the top-seeded H1ghlander at the 102-mile mark.
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