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The robot race

VICTORVILLE: Members of a Carnegie Mellon University-based team of engineers and their tricked-out, driverless sport utility vehicle won $2 million for their victory in a Pentagon-sponsored robot race in the Southern California desert over the weekend, race officials announced.

Tartan Racing’s “Boss” turned in the top performance on Saturday as it navigated itself through an urban-style obstacle course at a former Air Force base set up by race organisers from the Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA.

Guided by cameras, lasers and a sophisticated on-board computer, the team’s sport utility vehicle (SUV) merged with moving cars — some piloted by stunt drivers — navigated traffic circles and avoided obstacles at an average speed of 23 kmph, DARPA Urban Challenge programme manager Norman Whitaker said on Sunday. “They did everything right: followed all the speed laws, stopped at the intersections. It was really a phenomenal performance.”

A team from Stanford University won the $1 million second-place prize for designing a robotic vehicle that completed the course at a 21 kmph average. Engineers from Virginia Tech received $500,000 for finishing third with a souped-up SUV that finished the course at 19 kmph.

The robot rumble was held at the old George Air Force Base east of Los Angeles that was converted into a 100-km obstacle course. The urban road race was the third robotic competition bankrolled by DARPA, which faces a congressional deadline to have one-third of its military ground combat vehicles becoming unmanned by 2015. — AP

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