Caltech's DARPA Grand Challenge Entry (Redux)

[Kevin Watson]

Fresh pictures of Caltech's DARPA Grand Challenge entry taken today (March 4th) at our ultra-secret test area at one of Santa Anita Racetrack's vast parking lots.




Q: How many computers are needed to autonomously drive a Chavy Tahoe 200+ miles?
A: Six IBM 3.0 GHz Xeon-based PCs running Linux.




-Kevin

[FotoPlasma]

Are those six computers running as a Beowulf Cluster, in one way or another (I'm thinking of a system like MOSIX), or are they all operating relatively independantly, performing seperate tasks? Also, sort of related to the previous question, which Linux distro was chosen to run th[is/ese] system[s]? And finally, I'm curious as to what you're using to power all of the equipment, even though it's a fairly trivial topic.

Also, I like the fire extinguisher mount points. I recently saw an article in PopSci about CMU's DARPA entry, and in the few pictures they had, there were visible many of the large Emergency Stop buttons placed around the vehicle, and I thought of what a simple and effective (one would hope, anyway) way that would be to try to keep safe during development.

Anyway, keep up the great work, and good luck!

[Kevin Watson]

Originally Posted by FotoPlasma

Are those six computers running as a Beowulf Cluster, in one way or another (I'm thinking of a system like MOSIX), or are they all operating relatively independantly, performing seperate tasks?

It's a bit of a hybrid. One of the students wrote a Message Transport Agent that allows computers to pick-up tasks from another computer if it becomes too busy or fails. Generally, tasks run on one computer.

Originally Posted by FotoPlasma

Also, sort of related to the previous question, which Linux distro was chosen to run th[is/ese] system[s]?

I'm not sure.

Originally Posted by FotoPlasma

And finally, I'm curious as to what you're using to power all of the equipment, even though it's a fairly trivial topic.

There is a separate 6KW generator that sits where the front passenger seat used to be.

Originally Posted by FotoPlasma

Also, I like the fire extinguisher mount points. I recently saw an article in PopSci about CMU's DARPA entry, and in the few pictures they had, there were visible many of the large Emergency Stop buttons placed around the vehicle, and I thought of what a simple and effective (one would hope, anyway) way that would be to try to keep safe during development.

Yes, we have four emergency stop buttons around the vehicle. Testing has been... Um... interesting. Today, one of the team members sent a bad command to the throttle controller and the vehicle took off at full throttle without any warning. It must've hit 40-50 MPH before someone hit the remote kill switch . Last weekend the Tahoe took off at full throttle and pointed itself in the general direction of the film crew that's been following us around. With any luck, we'll get to see it on PBS' Nova in late Spring .

-Kevin

[FotoPlasma]

Originally Posted by Kevin Watson

Yes, we have four emergency stop buttons around the vehicle. Testing has been... Um... interesting. Today, one of the team members sent a bad command to the throttle controller and the vehicle took off at full throttle without any warning. It must've hit 40-50 MPH before someone hit the remote kill switch . Last weekend the Tahoe took off at full throttle and pointed itself in the general direction of the film crew that's been following us around. With any luck, we'll get to see it on PBS' Nova in late Spring .

-Kevin

Ah. Now I see the buttons. They're a bit less conspicuous on this one than on CMU's.

If you could throw up another thread when you learn when the specific Nova episode will air, I'd personally much appreciate it, as I'm sure many others would.

Also, thank you much for answering my questions.

[sanddrag]

Will your vehicle be at California Speedway on Wednesday? We are stopping on our way to Phoenix to check out the DARPA vehicles.

[Kevin Watson]

Originally Posted by sanddrag

Will your vehicle be at California Speedway on Wednesday? We are stopping on our way to Phoenix to check out the DARPA vehicles.

We'll be there at least in the morning. 9:30 - 10:00 is when our second qualifying run will take place. I'm not sure what the policy is regarding letting spectators in the pits, but if you can get in, look me up and I'll show you the vehicle.

-Kevin

[Kevin Watson]

Originally Posted by FotoPlasma

Ah. Now I see the buttons. They're a bit less conspicuous on this one than on CMU's.

[TrashTalk] That's because CMU will need to use their emergency buttons more than we will (once we get the above mentioned bugs worked out )[/TrashTalk]

Originally Posted by FotoPlasma

If you could throw up another thread when you learn when the specific Nova episode will air, I'd personally much appreciate it, as I'm sure many others would.

You can expect a lot of media coverage over the next few weeks. Here and here are articles I just heard about. Newsweek was out a few days ago to interview Dave van Gogh, who is Caltech's DGC program manager. They were there while I was at work, so I missed getting my photo in Newsweek by an hour (sorry Mom). The Newsweek story should run next Monday.

-Kevin

[Alex Ko]

Hey Kevin,
You must be a hardcore engineer to work on a FIRST team *and* the DARPA team!
I used to work with Dave at Applied Materials... was hoping to stop by the quals next week, but work has me stuck in the Bay Area.
Good luck!

-- is one tank of gas enough to get you there?

[Kris Verdeyen]

Originally Posted by Kevin Watson

[TrashTalk] That's because CMU will need to use their emergency buttons more than we will (once we get the above mentioned bugs worked out )[/TrashTalk]

The Red Team (CMU) suffered a pretty severe setback yesterday (3-4) when their vehicle Sandstorm rolled during a software test. There is some speculation that the Modified Hummer's engine was undamaged because one of the stop buttons was hit when it rolled. Now all they have to do is fix everything in a week, and they're set.

I can't wait to see what goes on with the Grand Challenge. Will there be any real-time race coverage, either online or on TV?

[Kevin Watson]

Originally Posted by Kris Verdeyen

The Red Team (CMU) suffered a pretty severe setback yesterday (3-4) when their vehicle Sandstorm rolled during a software test. There is some speculation that the Modified Hummer's engine was undamaged because one of the stop buttons was hit when it rolled. Now all they have to do is fix everything in a week, and they're set.

I can't wait to see what goes on with the Grand Challenge. Will there be any real-time race coverage, either online or on TV?

I, of course, didn't have any idea that the Red Team had suffered this setback when I made the above wisecrack. In all seriousness, I hope Red can pull things together in time for the QID next week because it'll certainly be less fun without his team competing.

For those that don't know, CMU is a robotics mecca. Most of the really cool algorithms that are used in autonomous navigation were developed by Red and his grad students.

-Kevin