The broadcast email message below was recently circulated.
It would seem to offer an opportunity to become involved in
a robotics activity in Indiana. I have no connection to this,
so I can’t offer further help with contacts, but give the web page
and email address below a try if you are local and interested.
>>>>>>>>>>
I am sending you this message because I need your help. The Indy Robot Racing Team still needs volunteers to help with the development, optimization, tuning, and testing of its fully-autonomous vehicle.$@# (If you can’t volunteer yourself or you are already on the team, PLEASE consider forwarding this message to people you know who might be interested. OR, if you have interest in sponsoring the team’s efforts, please email me directly).
The DARPA Grand Challenge is a race across the desert by autonomous (NO human interaction and NO remote control) vehicles for a prize of $2,000,000. See <http://www.darpa.mil/grandchallenge/>http://www.darpa.mil/grandchallenge/ and google to learn about the contest. The real prize though is considerably larger because “winning” changes our ideas about what an automobile is. The commercial opportunities are mind-boggling: lawn-mowing, snow removal, hazardous material transport, farming, street cleaning, military transport, and ultimately an automatically chauffeured vehicle for the elderly, the handicapped, and everyone else too.
We made the first two cuts. The 40 semi-finalists were announced recently (out of a field of about 200 entrants!). The Indy Robot Racing Team and 39 other teams will be heading to the National Qualification Event at the California Speedway in Fontana, CA, September 27 to October 5, 2005 where only 20 of the teams will be selected for the Grand Challenge event.
Our vehicle works, but there are still many incomplete subsystems that we want to design, build, and thoroughly test before September. $@#We know what needs to be done, but we don’t have all the manpower required. We need additional help.
Visit the website, <http://www.indyrobotracing.com/>http://www.IndyRobotRacing.com, for an overview of the project and <http://www.indyrobotracing.com/application/>http://www.indyrobotracing.com/application/ to sign up to help with software, hardware, testing, marketing, photography, mapping, researching technologies on the web, gathering sponsorships, etc…
Given the time pressures and the dangers of adding people in the middle of a project, we prefer folks who have specific domain knowledge, unbridled enthusiasm, a willingness to put in long hours, and a passion to win a race that has never been completed in the history of mankind.
As most of what remains to be done is system refinement, system integration, optimization, and testing on the live vehicle, we need people who can spend substantial time in our development laboratory, which is located in Carmel, Indiana.
The pay is poor (volunteer effort) and the hours are long, but it does come with some equity in our company and, perhaps most importantly, substantial bragging rights if the Indy Robot Racing Team makes a credible showing.
Interested? Contact [email protected] for more information or fill out the application on our website.
