One Small Step for Man, One Giant Step for Robots DARPA Grand Challenge Proves too Tough for Bots

摘要

In a first-of-its-kind robotic desert derby, fifteen Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGVs), from motorcycles to modified military transports, failed to finish the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's Grand Challenge endurance race, leaving the $1 million prize and considerable bragging rights unclaimed. While all the robot vehicles sputtered out, crashed or were left wandered aimlessly within hours of leaving the starting line on March 13, DARPA officials nevertheless claimed a moral victory in just carrying out the contest. They vowed to hold a second Grand Challenge in about 18 months to pick up where the first one left off. The fifteen autonomous ground robots were attempting to navigate ― in less than ten hours ― a rugged 142-mile Mojave Desert course from Barstow, CA to near Las Vegas, NV, which included utility roads, switch-backs, severe elevation changes, blind turns and sheer drops. But Mother Nature got the best of the UGVs as robot after robot succumbed to the treacherous terrain or to one malfunction or another. In the end, no robot made it beyond 7.4 miles, and the race was called less than five hours after it began after all fifteen robotic vehicles had either crashed or become immobile.