RE: "DARPA Challenge" Robot race

The issue is terrain - a cruise missile can always go up to avoid
terrain - a ground vehicle can get stuck in a ditch, soft ground, washed
out in a flash flood, run over by an 18-wheeler or knocked over by a
bored teen-ager.

Reading a map is one thing, but how many maps do you know have 1 meter
resolution and data on the condition of the terrain surface (wet, dry,
paved, rocky, muddy, overgrown with weeds, new pipeline laid etc)?

The problem is going to be in the details - a 1 meter high obstacle can
be significant to a ground vehicle, whereas an aerial vehicle is going
to be unconcerned with anything less than 30 meters high.

Then make the other comparison - pilots have a relatively easy time of
navigating by instruments/GPS while people on the ground often get lost.
 If it's not easy for people, then computers are going to have a tough
time too.

--Binhan

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Matt Tope [mailto:mptope@omnihybrid.com]
> Sent: Monday, September 29, 2003 10:25 AM
> To: gzg-l@csua.berkeley.edu
> Subject: RE: "DARPA Challenge" Robot race
> 
> 
> How about a cruise missile on wheels, after all they can read maps
> already...
> 
> Regards,
> Matt Tope
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-gzg-l@lists.CSUA.Berkeley.EDU
> [mailto:owner-gzg-l@lists.CSUA.Berkeley.EDU]On Behalf Of K.H.Ranitzsch
> Sent: 29 September 2003 16:49
> To: gzg-l@csua.berkeley.edu
> Subject: "DARPA Challenge" Robot race
> 
> 
> "DARPA intends to conduct a challenge of autonomous ground 
> vehicles between
> Los Angeles and Las Vegas in March of 2004. A cash award of 
> $1 million will
> be granted to the team that fields the first vehicle to complete the
> designated route within a specified time limit. "
> 
> THat means, they want robot vehicles to drive the distance without any
> external guidance. Seems robot warriors may be nearer than you think
> 
> http://www.darpa.mil/grandchallenge/overview.htm
> 
> Greetings
> Karl Heinz
> 
> 
> 
>