DARPA Autonomous Robot Race Rules Announced 17
NASAKnight writes "Remember the slashdot story a while back about the DARPA Autonomous Robot Race? Well, they were supposed to post initial rules and information in September, but they were late. They just came out today, so take a look."
Damn, I was hoping for All Terrain BattleBots (Score:2, Interesting)
From the rules: The goal of this competition is for the race vehicle to complete the course as fast as possible. Interfering with other race vehicles will not be allowed.
I think they just ruled out 90% of the best bot designers in the US. I mean, who wouldn't want to see Toro [longnow.org] or Ronin [pacbell.net]charge up on some weinie scientist's bot and tear it to pieces?
Maybe this will spark a new arena for bot-combat.
Re:Damn, I was hoping for All Terrain BattleBots (Score:2, Interesting)
Anyhow I don't think a battlebot-style machine will win this. They said the terrain will be navigable by a pick-up truck, so my first idea would be... a modified pick-up truck.
Re:Damn, I was hoping for All Terrain BattleBots (Score:1)
Narrow minded people.....
Re:Damn, I was hoping for All Terrain BattleBots (Score:1)
Re:Damn, I was hoping for All Terrain BattleBots (Score:1)
This sounds like quite a challenge (Score:1)
Two solutions present themselves immediately to me: either program the whole route into the robot, or have some sort of beacon where the robot will know to go to. Anyone else have any ideas? Could GPS help?
Re:This sounds like quite a challenge (Score:2, Informative)
Navigation
Only commercially available data (maps, images, other cartographic products) may be downloaded to the autonomous or chase vehicles prior to the race. Use of GPS is acceptable.
Get me my kit! (Score:3, Funny)
There is no size, weight, or propulsion limit on the ground vehicle; the nature of the course will dictate practical limits.
Okay...
1) flamethrowers
2) one of those dumptrucks with the eight foot tall tyres
3) more flamethrowers
Then:
The goal of this competition is for the race vehicle to complete the course as fast as possible. Interfering with other race vehicles will not be allowed.
Man! I thought this was DARPA. They go soft while I was out?
Now if they only had 10 hours to do it and an expert in fissionable material... That's a Scrapheap I'd watch!
The toughest part (Score:2, Flamebait)
We drove this stretch of road last year on vacation, stopping at various national parks along the way. Contrary to first impressions, the desert is very much alive and in many places has an extremely fragile ecosystem - some groundcovers can take forty years to regrow because of the harsh environment.
They're either going to stay on-road or they're going to damage the environment. There's very little in-between.
(there's very little in between Palm Springs and Las Vegas, too, but that's another mind-numbing story)
Govt doing it right for once... (Score:1)
There are really two prizes here, the cash prize for first place, and the subsequent contracts, which may not go to the fatest, but to various good ideas found in various entries.
I hope they televise it
Damn... (Score:1)
But I think that some of the network execs should get serious and spend some serious money. Wouldn't it be cool to hold a race like this on Mars, or the Moon!
That would be wicked! And with the advent of privately funded space delivery contests like the X-Prize [xprize.org], the race could be made into a veritable interplanetary decathalon! Its a few steps down the road, but hey, why not?
Vegas (Score:2, Funny)
It would also be beneficial if your robot can pass it self off as human and count six card blackjack.
I was going to participate but... (Score:2)
Damn it!
I was going to enter one of my spare Tomahawk cruise missles in the race!
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Really good idea (Score:2)