DailyTech - How Stanford University Won the DARPA Challenge

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Science How Stanford University Won the DARPA Challenge
Kristopher Kubicki (Blog) - January 23, 2006 9:59 PM

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7 comment(s) - last by oTAL.. on Jan 27 at 10:59 AM

Two years ago, no team made it past the 8 mile marker in the DARPA Challenge. In October, Stanford's team completed the course flawlessly

For the aspiring robotic researcher, winning DARPA's Grand Challenge Race is somewhat akin to winning the Superbowl. Back in October, a team from Stanford University won the race with their modified Volkswagen Toureg - and cashed in a cool $2M USD in prize money.

Popular Mechanics is running a feature in the January 2006 article of its magazine, and just made the text available on its website. The website features an in depth look at how Stanford's project won the race, as well as a detailed PDF of some of the finer points of Stanford's entry.

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Standford deserves the attention

By PseudoKnight on 1/24/2006 3:59:32 AM , Rating: 3

Their vehicle not only performed faster than any other contestants but also managed to be the only vehicle not to hit anything in all the tests. Their project performed far above the others and deserves the attention it's getting.

RE: Standford deserves the attention

By Adul on 1/24/2006 8:16:41 AM , Rating: 2

Link goes to popular mechanics, not popular science ;)

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RE: Standford deserves the attention

By jkresh on 1/24/2006 4:33:15 PM , Rating: 2

I am not saying they dont deserve attention for it. However I think the bold text at the top of the news blurb is worded in such a way as to make it appear that they were the only one to compete. When both of CMU's teams finished (11minutes behind and 20 minutes behind) as did 2 other teams (36 minutes, and about 5 hours), and any mention of the challenege should include the fact that 5 teams completed it and 4 that took less then 8.7% longer tehn Stanfords (the closest being 2.7% back). Once again Stanfords vehicle was impressive, and they should get attention but the other teams should not be left out completely.

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RE: Standford deserves the attention

By The Cheeba on 1/24/2006 10:28:30 PM , Rating: 2

But who won the two mil?

Cheeba

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RE: Standford deserves the attention

By oTAL

(blog) on 1/27/2006 10:59:50 AM , Rating: 2

Don't worry dude... I agree with you :)
It's the typical press hype. Same thought crossed my mind. It's a big accomplishment that so many teams finished and it should be mentioned.

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Not the only team to complete it

By jkresh on 1/24/2006 2:09:25 AM , Rating: 2

While Stanfords completion was impressive, several other teams also completed the course in 05, and a few were very close behind them. I feel that not mentioning them and instead mentioning the relative failure of 03, makes Stanfords completion seem to be more then it was.

College work

By bldckstark on 1/24/2006 12:37:27 PM , Rating: 2

And I thought I was slick designing a quick change gas tank for our schools racing kart. We did win tho. Can't fill a gas tank as fast as you can replace one with a single handle clamp system that includes quick change hose connections. Maybe they will be racing unmanned karts soon. Then we will need unmanned pit crews. Is it still a crew if there are no people?