pic: MIT DARPA Entry
 

Re: pic: MIT DARPA Entry
 

This robot is really amazing. It's a shame that it kept on getting stuck on the dirt road which ruined their timing.

One interesting point though is the wide variation in sensing capabilities that robots had. MIT used more than 10 LIDARs, multiple vision systems and other sensors (which obviously required a huge amount of computing power for integration). On the other hand, UPENN used 2 LIDAR's in the front and a pair of stereo cameras (and overall had much less resources then the MIT team). Although I did not see their times and overall performance, both teams successfully finished the track. It seems like the KISS principle really worked here.

Re: pic: MIT DARPA Entry
 

Hey, remember that Olin built it, MIT just coded it.

:D

Re: pic: MIT DARPA Entry
 

Every one knows that robotics is all about the code.

Re: pic: MIT DARPA Entry
 

Actually, robotics is secretly all about matrices. Who knew?

Re: pic: MIT DARPA Entry
 

I'd love to see "code" drive around without hardware!! :D

Re: pic: MIT DARPA Entry
 

Rant if you may, but I hope that CMU, MIT, or Stanford don't win next year. I hope one of the contenders at least wins in the top three similar to how VT won 3rd this year. I think its a boost for smaller schools and it might even get participation in the Grand Challenge up a bit for universities around the nation.

Re: pic: MIT DARPA Entry
 

Hoping won't make it so....get out there and do it. Beg your butt off for sponsorship and "git er done". Kidding aside. Teams just have to pool their resources and jump in with both feet. We have been doing just that. As most people already know, we try new things like doing underwater robotics. So far barely any FIRST teams have tried it. (www.h2orobots.org) We are also attempting to do our first "DARPA". The ONR hosts an autonomous under water competition and we are doing the lab work and coding to see if we can make the next jump. One device we need cost 12k. Its the Doppler Velocity Logger. That is not stopping us though, we are looking for used ones or one we could barrow. I really would like to see more FIRST teams join our "underwater FIRST" and try something new and challenging in new areas. The FIRST models works great, we live by it. It is what helped us to beat MIT three time in the MATE National ROV event! Maybe we will jump in the big world with the big boys and do DARPA one year soon. We are working toward it. DARPA inspired us like a lot of people, the question is.....what are you going to do with that inspiration?