Four vehicles finish in $2 million robot race
Stanford's modified VW Touareg successfully ran
the qualifying course four straight times.
Image source: CNN / AP
the qualifying course four straight times.
Image source: CNN / AP
An AP newswire article, via CNN, reports that:
Four robotic vehicles finished a Pentagon-sponsored race across the Mojave desert Saturday and achieved a technological milestone by conquering steep drop-offs, obstacles and tunnels over a rugged 132-mile course without a single human command.
The vehicles, guided by sophisticated software, gave scientists hope that robots could one day wage battles without endangering soldiers.
"The impossible has been achieved," cried Stanford University's Sebastian Thrun, after the university's customized Volkswagen crossed first. Students cheered, hoisting Thrun atop their shoulders.
Also finishing was a converted red Hummer named H1ghlander and a Humvee called Sandstorm from Carnegie Mellon University. The Stanford robot dubbed Stanley overtook the top-seeded H1ghlander at the 102-mile mark.
posted by Fergie @ 10/09/2005 12:44:00 PM
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