Unless you can program the exact route into memory, every rock, bird, cactus, etc, you need some sort of image processing to see where you are going. Remember, you CANNOT depend on GPS, hell, the rules even tell you that. My friend worked on an image processing program last summer, for use in the National Syncrotron Light Source at Brookhaven National Laboratories. It would take images and compare them as to what should be seen, and if it differed too much, it was thrown out. He tried a few approaches, and wound up using neural networks, because they were most efficient. Probably not the easiest, but easily the best choice overall.
Yes, you could get away without any image processing, but I think that if you used it to check for large obstacles while far away, and then used other things like proximety scanners for up close work. Just remember though, you will be traveling at a very fast pace, too fast to rely on one system.
I understand power constraints, so maybe a cluster is overkill, but remember, you do need lots of processing power to drive a jeep across a desert. Mimicking the human brain is NOT something you do with a 486
. Also, to deal with power constraints, would solar pannels, alternators, etc, provide enough power to power what you want? No, this is not electical, but it's something you MUST consider.
Quote:
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We don't need to make a working Johnny five, we just have to get it there.
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Just remember Matt, Johnny Five did a lot of stuff. This will be doing a hell of a lot more, except for the talking bit.
<EDIT>
Well, it could talk, but it doesn't
have to talk. I did find a pretty easy way to make it talk though, if we wanted to. I know it works on Gentoo Linux, probably on any other distro as well
</EDIT>
One last thing, about moving parts. Unless you can continuously upload information back about progress, you should have some way to backup EVERYTHING. This is another place where a image processing system may actually come in handy and be cool to implement. Check the road ahead for smoothness. If it looks smooth, powerup IDE/SATA (yeah, I guess SCSI is out) harddrives, and save everything from RAM/Compact Flash to the harddrives, for later review. You will definitely want to see what happened every second of the way, especially if you come in a top place, because then it makes it much easier to show how it works, and see exactly how well it performed.