What is the DARPA Grand Challenge? Autonomous Robotic Ground Vehicles Goal of the Armed Forces to have 1/3 of the ground vehicles unmanned by 2015 $2 million prize That means no people Navigate 200 miles of rugged terrain from Los Angeles to Las Vegas
The Course Total Miles : 142 GPS Waypoints: 2586 Road Crossings: 40 RR Crossings: 2 Controlled Passing Zones: 19 Media Locations: 8 Critical Tortoise Habitat: 33%
The Course
Last Year’s Race 106 applications, 40 entries Universities CalTech, Carnegie Mellon, Virginia Tech Hobbyists Government personnel, industry engineers Industry sponsors Microsoft, Sarnoff, Boeing, Intel
Last Year’s Race
Next Year’s Race
What we have Princeton Team Seniors committed to senior thesis Summer work group Saturn View (SUV) lined up to arrive Fall Break Professors from many departments MAE, EE, CS, ORFE, PSY Eg. Kornhauser, Kulkarni, Littman, Rowley, Schwartz
Where you come in Seniors – senior thesis/independent work Juniors – independent work Sophomores/freshmen – helping out because you have too much time
What needs to get done Lots of Stuff
What we need Image Processing Artificial intelligence, machine vision, object recognition Sensors Cameras, laser radar, microwaves, infrared Sensor stabilization (active and passive) Sensor Arbitration Hardware communication, multiprocessor computation Decision making, path planning
What we need Vehicle Control + Embedded Systems Steering, speed control State measurement (GPS, accelerometers) Hacking of vehicle mechanical systems Simulator Simulating an environment to test sensors Random programming
What do you need Experience not necessary Commitment, dedication, discipline Interest in working on real world engineering problems Willing to have FUN
Most Importantly CREATIVITY Blue Team Palos Verde Random Ideas Touch sensors Flying camera
What to do Sign up!!! Leave , contact info Talk to team leaders Think about what you’d like to work on Weekly team meetings Tuesdays 8:30PM E-415