How important is the DARPA urban challenge to automobile manufacturers? Larry Burns, Vice President, Research & Development, Strategic Development for General Motors attended three days of this event and stayed to watch the ceremonies. Here is Mr. Burns talking about General Motors involvement with many Universities, DARPA's involvement with research and development and why Tartan [...]
1st place - #19, Tartan Racing, "Boss" Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburg, PA Chris Urmson, Director of Technology Tartan Racing, talks about what it is like to have been a student working on robots for the DARPA grand challenge and, now, what it is like to be part of the faculty of Carnegie Mellon working [...]
It's not just the vehicle or the University that wins this race, but the sponsors that help out. Caterpillar is known for heavy equipment, but what most people don't realize is that they are heavy into technology as well. Caterpillar is helping Team Oshkosh, Tartan racing (Carnegie Mellon) and Victor Tango (Virginia Tech). Listen as [...]
Dr. Tony Tether, DARPA Director awards the top three winners of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) urban challenge for finishing the race in Victorville, CA. Dr. Tether then talks about whether there will be another DARPA race and whether prizes will be awarded. 1st place - #19, Tartan Racing, "Boss" Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburg, [...]
People in the know were holding number 32, Victor Tango, as the sentimental favorite. In April, 2007 a mentally disturbed student shot down 32 students and teachers in the engineering building at Virginia Tech, Balcksburg, VA. It was the deadliest school shooting in U.S. history. Dr. Al Wicks discusses the massacre and how the students [...]
Al Wick, Virginia Tech and their DARPA robot, Odin
DARPA ANNOUNCES 36 SEMI-FINALISTS FOR URBAN CHALLENGE Autonomous Vehicle Competition to be held in Victorville, Calif.(Anaheim, Calif.) “ Dr. Tony Tether, director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), today announced the 36 teams (list attached) selected as semi-finalists for the Urban Challenge. The semi-finalists will next compete in the Urban Challenge National Qualification [...]
The DARPA Grand Challenge Sebastian Thrun, Professor of Computer Science, Stanford, and Mike Montemerlo, Technical Director, Stanford Racing Team, discuss how they felt Stanford did in the 4 different tests for the 2007 Darpa Urban Challenge. Stanford passed all 4, but had to redo one due to a technicality involving cones. From wikipedia.org: The DARPA [...]
Norm Whitaker, Program Manager, DARPA, wraps up the day in Mountain View, California. Norm also answers some questions from the press, most involving the history of Darpa, and how it came to be. From darpa.mil The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) was established in 1958 as the first U.S. response to the Soviet launching [...]
Volkswagen Electronics Research Lab Ganymed Stanek, Volkswagen of America, Inc., Electronics Research Lab, talks about Volkswagen's partnership with Stanford, inside of an unmanned Volkswagen Passat. Volkswagen worked with Stanford on Stanley, Stanford's first car that won the race in 2005, winning Stanford 2 million dollars. Keep in mind, nobody is actually driving the car. From [...]