The race of self-driving robots

Race route (Photo: AP)

23 cars participated in the race through the desert. From afar, they are no different from the usual racing cars that are rushing on the track of the dusty sand. However, this competition is attractive and worth mentioning in that the cars are not occupied by people behind the wheel as well as without the intervention of remote control equipment . This is the Grand Challenge, the toughest race in the world for self-driving robots , first held in the United States in 2004.

The reward is for the car to complete the 135-mile race track (about 217 km) in the shortest time of 2 million USD. Grand Challenge organizational unit is the Agency for Advanced Defense Research Projects (Darpa) under the US Department of Defense. Currently, Darpa is promoting research and development of unmanned technology. ' Unmanned vehicles can take on dangerous missions like resupply of supplies and so can limit casualties on the battlefield,' said Darpa expert Ron Kurjanowicz. With Sebastian Thrun of Stanford University, the engineer designed one of the most popular robot racing cars, self-driving car technology also aims to make the street safer. ' Then there will be a day, the car will drive and you just sit in the car, read the newspaper or check email, it will be the final victory ', Sebastian envisions.

Avoid obstacles

Through the first mile of the track, the Thrun's Stanley proved to be a good candidate for the championship when surfing at speeds of up to 50 mph (80 km / h). Stanley was built on the chassis of the VW Touareg and equipped with electronic control systems via wires that allow the car to operate on computers. Operations such as driving, shifting, speeding up / down and winning are all possible

"Unmanned" racing cars (Photo: AP)

controlled by robots. But driving is easy, it's hard to decide the direction. Talking like computer engineer Jay Gowdy: 'Nobody knows how to make a robot understand the surroundings or make it visible. Instead, they are measuring devices . '

The robot uses a series of measuring devices to make 3-dimensional (3D) maps of the way ahead. The radar system will ' scan ' the terrain while the laser light will identify and locate obstacles, the camera system will look ahead to warn remote situations that may lead to collisions. Once you have a clear understanding of the map, the robot simply selects the most smooth and smooth running direction. The way the robot works sounds simple, but in fact it requires enormous computing power. Stanley uses millions of special calculation commands and processing power of 7 on-board computers to draw the direction and determine the running speed.

Challenges in the inner city

Over the course of 2 sessions, the Grand Challenge playground proved between theory and reality still a long way away. Remember in the first tournament (in 2004), out of 15 cars leaving the starting line, half were in trouble right in the first mile. The most successful ' driver ' Sandstorm - improved from the Hummer - only ran 7 miles. The situation last year seemed better but each one left the race one after another. Some are malfunctioning due to complex terrain, but most do not reach the destination because the control system determines the wrong way, causing the robot to deviate from the track and stray between desert. By the 36th mile, the race left only 2 robots of Carnegie Mellon University and Stanley. At this time, each unit runs its own route and adjusts the speed every time the terrain changes. After about 7 hours of competition, Stanford University's Stanley team finished first and 20 minutes later, both Carnegie Mellon robots appeared.

All three robots completed the track in a short time, which surprised many people. However, there are still many issues that need to be resolved. For example, robots in the Grand Challenge race must only avoid fixed obstacles. What happens when these vehicles face mobile hazards such as vehicles in the opposite direction or pedestrians? Researchers hope these shortcomings will be overcome when the robot cars participate in the third race, named DARPA Urban Challenge - scheduled to take place on November 3, 2007. At this game, the ' heroic ' robots will compete on a 60-mile interior roadway at the same time avoiding incidents and obeying traffic laws.

Sebastian Thrun and his Stanley racing car. (Photo: AP)

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