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I'm in proboly one of the least geographically appealing locations for this, but if anyone on the easy coast thinks of anyway we can meet occasioanlly, let me know! I'd love to help but I think the real key to this whole thing, truthfully, is money. With money, the two debated main points of the competiton here, Navigation and Machine durability/efficiency, will both follow. Is there anyone out there who's amazing at finding sponors and knows somebody/someplace willing to give a couple hundred grand (because, realistcally, that's how much this kinda stuff would take).
Now I've gotten that outta the way, my thoughts on the machine.
I think that the standard commercial vehicle drivetrain would be needed, so it's really kinda pointless to reengineer something as complex as a motor system. However, it's really also pointless to take a jeep and retrofit it with a servo control system to control steering etc. There would have to be a happy medium. If money weren't an issue, I'd say build your own Chasis and rip the engine system out of something really efficient, like the new VW's Diesel engines. Build a strong, durable, aerodynamic, lightweight chasis. You don't need to take passengers, so that cuts out most of the inside of car. Now you've got a chasis thats about 3-5 feet high at most, somewhere around 4 feet off the ground with huge beefy tires.
Control system-wise, I've seen a lotta research going into vision detection. I think that would be great for line tracking while on the road. Once offroad, that system would be disabled and switch into an alternate system for object avoidance. [Object avoidance would be activated during line tracking, but would not be the primary guidance]. I'm also thinking, if you were to get a map of the overall area, and plot the course using way points, AND indicating alternate routes if the primary is unavaible, you'd be in good shape. Walk up to the machine in that two hour period, pull up the map of LA to LV on a tablet PC, and just start plotting where its gotta be and when. If it discovers through obstacle avoidance that that routes not available, switch to secondary or triary waypoints and continue. Waypoints would be established and checked against GPS and distance. Your waypoints would have distances according to the map (as long as they're accurate) and you could check yourself between the two, confirming your in the right place.
Well, thats my thoughts...
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Curie Division 2005 Champions (175, 33, 108)
UCF 2005 Website Award
Midwest 2005 Delphi's Driving Tomorrow's Technology
2004 UCF QuarterFinalists (1065, 86, 108)
UCF 2003 Regional Champs/Entrepreneurship Award
Midwest Regional 2003 Leadership In Controls/Website award
Nationals 2003 Quarter Finalists
Robot Rodeo 2003 Champions (Alliance: 180 and 186)
AIM S/N: Specialagentjim
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