[nfb-talk] Military Tests Robotic VehiclesRE:

Tue Nov 6 11:34:56 CST 2007

If it is run by computer,There has to be something to be able to write in 
more information.

--Dar
www.mypowermall.com/biz/home/5779
Every Saint has a past
Every Sinner has a future

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Alan Wheeler" <awheeler at neb.rr.com>
To: "NFB Talk Mailing List" <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Monday, November 05, 2007 8:24 PM
Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] Military Tests Robotic VehiclesRE:

>I know what you mean, Dar.  Can you see it now?  Your car's brake
> application has had an unidentified error and must close. *GRIN*
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "dmgina" <dmgina at qwest.net>
> To: "NFB Talk Mailing List" <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Monday, November 05, 2007 9:20 PM
> Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] Military Tests Robotic VehiclesRE:
>
>
>> Unreal.
>> Gosh I know I couldn't ever come up with that kind of money.
>> And I know if I was in a car like that, I would truly be scared.
>> If my computer can crash quickly, I know the same thing could happen to a
>> car.
>> Keep us posted.
>>
>> --Dar
>> www.mypowermall.com/biz/home/5779
>> Every Saint has a past
>> Every Sinner has a future
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> From: "Michael Bullis" <mabullis at hotmail.com>
>> To: "'NFB Talk Mailing List'" <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
>> Sent: Monday, November 05, 2007 2:03 PM
>> Subject: [nfb-talk] Military Tests Robotic VehiclesRE:
>>
>>
>>> >From today's NY Times.  Looks like we're getting close.
>>> Mike Bullis
>>>
>>> Crashes and Traffic Jams in Military Test of Robotic Vehicles By JOHN
>>> MARKOFF VICTORVILLE, Calif., Nov. 4 A Pentagon-sponsored robot race at a
>>> former Air
>>> Force base here on Saturday revealed that computer-controlled vehicles,
>>> at
>>> least to date, have failings that are all too human.
>>>
>>> The contest, called the Grand Challenge and sponsored by the Defense
>>> Advanced Research Projects Agency, or Darpa, featured both robot
>>> collisions
>>> and robot
>>> traffic jams. Yet the event also demonstrated that the state of the art
>>> in
>>> robotics has reached the point where the most sophisticated autonomous
>>> vehicles
>>> can now drive comfortably and safely on a city course while surrounded 
>>> by
>>> traffic and other obstacles.
>>>
>>> 'It was a good day in robotland,' said William L. Whittaker, a Carnegie
>>> Mellon University professor who pioneered the idea of contests to help
>>> advance robot
>>> technology during the 1980s.
>>>
>>> The Chevrolet Tahoe from Mr. Whittaker's Tartan Team, sponsored by
>>> General
>>> Motors and others, won the top prize this year. Although the car 
>>> finished
>>> just
>>> minutes behind a Volkswagen-sponsored Passat designed by a group of
>>> Stanford
>>> researchers, Darpa officials spent the night reviewing the cars'
>>> performances
>>> during three separate missions, including how well they adhered to
>>> California's driving rules.
>>>
>>> On Sunday morning, they announced that the Carnegie Mellon car named 
>>> Boss
>>> had won first prize ahead of Junior from Stanford and Victor Tango from
>>> Virginia
>>> Tech.
>>>
>>> The event was the third in a series of races that have been held since
>>> 2004
>>> to help meet a Congressional directive that requires the military to
>>> replace
>>> a third of its fleet of logistics vehicles with robots by the middle of
>>> the
>>> next decade.
>>>
>>> This year's race offered three prizes of $2 million, $1 million and
>>> $500,000
>>> for the vehicles that were best able to navigate a 60-mile course in a
>>> simulated
>>> city in under six hours.
>>>
>>> During the last week, the field of 35 invited contestants was narrowed 
>>> to
>>> 11
>>> finalists. They included several Volkswagen Passats, a Subaru, a
>>> Chevrolet
>>> Tahoe, a Toyota Prius, a Land Rover, a Ford Escape Hybrid, and an
>>> oversize
>>> Marine Corps transport vehicle made by Oshkosh.
>>>
>>> 'We've been looking at the problem of protecting people on the
>>> battlefield,'
>>> said Norman Whitaker, the Darpa project manager for the event. He told
>>> the
>>> more than 300 reporters attending the race that the vehicles, once
>>> started,
>>> would perform tasks as varied as left-hand turns across oncoming traffic
>>> and
>>> pulling in and out of narrow parking spaces, all without human
>>> intervention.
>>>
>>>
>>> 'There's no animal or midget inside controlling it or anything else,' he
>>> said.
>>>
>>> To the casual bystander, the stream of robots left a disquieting
>>> impression
>>> as each vehicle drove by with both drivers and passengers conspicuously
>>> absent
>>> as steering wheels twitched back and forth.
>>>
>>> 'It's amazing how quickly you acclimatize to the idea of robot driving 
>>> in
>>> cities,' said Michael Montemerlo, a Stanford roboticist who headed the
>>> programming
>>> effort of the Passat that finished the course first.
>>>
>>> Each vehicle is a complex ensemble of sensors and computers that are
>>> programmed to follow roads, avoid oncoming traffic, merge, pass and
>>> occasionally even
>>> cheat on the rules to get out of difficult situations.
>>>
>>> In addition to the prize money, the event, which has been held every 18
>>> months, cost $20.5 million to produce this year. However, the organizers
>>> described
>>> it as an economical way to bring about rapid technological progress in a
>>> field that is a military priority.
>>>
>>> Mr. Whitaker also said that the program was having a Sputnik-like impact
>>> in
>>> the engineering and computer science departments of many universities,
>>> where
>>> enrollments have jumped in response.
>>>
>>> During the contest, which began at 8 a.m. Saturday, it quickly became
>>> apparent that there were disparities in the abilities of the vehicles.
>>>
>>> Early in the race, a Land Rover designed by researchers from the
>>> Massachusetts Institute of Technology had a near collision and then a
>>> real
>>> collision with
>>> a Passat built by a team of researchers based in Braunschweig, Germany.
>>> The
>>> German team was later pulled from the race by officials.
>>>
>>> Separately, the Oshkosh military vehicle was withdrawn after it had to 
>>> be
>>> halted just inches from colliding with a pillar. A short time later, the
>>> car
>>> entered
>>> by a team from the University of Central Florida ended its race by
>>> running
>>> into an abandoned building.
>>>
>>> PHOTO: A Carnegie Mellon team, sponsored in part by G.M., competed
>>> against
>>> 35 contestants and won the top prize of $2 million. (PHOTOGRAPH BY
>>> GENERAL
>>> MOTORS,
>>> VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS)
>>>
>>>
>>> Michael Bullis, NOMC
>>> Blind Industries and Services of Maryland
>>> 410-737-2604
>>> email mbullis at bism.org
>>>
>>>
>>
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