Looks like the DARPA GRAND CHALLENGE will be won today

[Greg Needel]

looking at the live updates and stats all morning and right now there are 7 robots left in the race with Stanford in the lead at 116 miles of the 132.2 mile course. keep looking at the updates folks, but my money is on Stanford to win the challenge before 5:00

www.grandchallenge.org

[Billfred]

I've had my money on Stanley since the NQE.

4:48 and it looks like Red Team Too is through Beer Bottle Pass (the last real obstacle before a seven-mile jaunt to the finish), with the Red Team about to take it on.

Win or lose, it's good to see this year's field stepped the game up.

edit: Stanley did it!!! 7 hours, 28 minutes. Let's see what develops.

[MisterX]

Stanley, Standford Racing Team's entry, has done it! 132 miles in 7 hours 28 minutes! Sadly both Virginia Tech teams bowed out by the 45 mile markers, still quite an improvment from last year though! There are 6 opponents still on the course but Red Team Too has already been beaten by time and Red Team has 8 miles to go and only 2 minutes to do it.

[mechanicalbrain]

Yeah stanford has a programming techinique that takes the data its sensors give it then evaluates the probability that the data is false severly reducing bad information. They reran last years course and after 88 (i think it was) miles they had to stop because the human driven car following it got a flat tire when it failed to avoid a bump!

[Billfred]

Did anyone notice that Stanley's time on the DGC site went from 7:28 to 7:33?

Did someone forget to stop the clock, or was this just an adjustment for something else?

[Eugenia Gabrielov]

STANFORD! Yessssssssss

[MisterX]

Originally Posted by Billfred

Did anyone notice that Stanley's time on the DGC site went from 7:28 to 7:33?

Did someone forget to stop the clock, or was this just an adjustment for something else?

conisdering it has been goin up in crements and even now is at 7:38 I would assume that the clock hasnt been stopped

[Joshua May]

NO!!!! Stanford!!!! NO!!!!

Now I have to organize a Berkeley DAPRA team just to beat Stanfurd, more on my to do list. ahh

[Ian Curtis]

Eh, its not over yet. According to the little scroll bar "times are going to change as information becomes available." Don't count Red out yet!

I'd like to see a reconisance flying grand challenge!

[Billfred]

Well, at the risk of being nit-picky, it looks like a winner won't be announced today. Terramax is still out on the course, and will pick up around 6:40 AM (Pacific) tomorrow morning.

[mechanicalbrain]

FOUR TEAMS!!! YAY! I thought it would be impressive to see one team win but four is outstanding!

[dlavery]

Okay, it looks like the official finish times have now been posted on the Grand Challenge web site. Here is how it breaks out:

Stanford Racing Team (Stanley) 6 hours 53 minutes
Red Team (Sandstorm) 7 hours 4 minutes
Red Team Too (H1ghlander) 7 hours 14 minutes
Gray Team (grayBot) 7 hours 30 minutes
Team TerraMax (TerraMax) 12 hours 51 minutes

All the other competitors are ranked "Did not complete"

Five finishers, with four of them completing the course within the 10-hour time limit, is VERY impressive! If the times hold true, it looks like Stanford will pick up a nice $2,000,000 check. The fun part, from a personal standpoint, is that the lead engineer on the Stanford team - Mike Montemerlo - is the son of my former office mate. But to illustrate how small the universe of potential participants really is, both Mike and the Stanford team lead, Sebastian Thrun, are products of the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University. Mike is one of Red Whittaker's (leader of the Red Team and Red Team Too) former students. As Red watches Mike pick up the check, he may remember the day that Mike snatched the pebble from his hand, and Red had to say "it is time for you to leave." *

-dave

* first one to get the reference wins a Krispy Kreme donut - I understand that Amanda Morrison still has a few left.

[Billfred]

Originally Posted by dlavery

As Red watches Mike pick up the check, he may remember the day that Mike snatched the pebble from his hand, and Red had to say "it is time for you to leave." *

-dave

* first one to get the reference wins a Krispy Kreme donut - I understand that Amanda Morrison still has a few left.

Mid-90s series, I want to say "Kung Fu - The Legend Continues"

[CJO]

I realize that TerraMax took 12 hours, but I think it is really cool (and in some ways more useful) that their big huge truck managed to complete the course

Originally Posted by CJO

I realize that TerraMax took 12 hours, but I think it is really cool (and in some ways more useful) that their big huge truck managed to complete the course

I am happy, of course, that Stanley won. But what is most impressive to me is how much competition raises the bar for everyone. Just 18 months ago, the 'best' team went 8 miles. This year some of the 'weaker' teams went 30 miles! I was at Robonexus when the victory was announced. Almost all the "experts" I talked to there thought at best, one team had a 50/50 chance of finishing. That so many finished, and that so many did so much better than expected took almost everyone by surprise. While this challenge probably won't go down in history the same way the Wright Brother's first flight or Lindberg's crossing of the Atlantic did, clearly this is a significant milestone.

Besides congratulating the winners and all the participants, we can rejoice in the knowledge of what competition for the "impossible dream" has given us.
DARPA, for a small investment now has many different ways to solve the problem of navigating autonomously over desert terrain. Sometimes small incremental improvements over time, lead to "tipping point" breakthroughs.
It also illustrates the 'human' side of technological innovation. I am certain that any team that reached the finals was led by passionate, devoted people, capable of meticulous detailed planning, and with a dedication to persevere and overcome whatever obstacles they may have encountered.

These principles are ones that all FIRST teams can respect and emulate.