DARPA Grand Challenge (2004)
{{short description|First DARPA Grand Challenge}}
{{main|DARPA Grand Challenge}}
File:DARPA Challenge RedTeam.jpg]]
Announced in 2002, the first DARPA Grand Challenge was a driverless car competition held on March 13, 2004 in the Mojave Desert region of the United States. The {{convert|150|mi|km}} route followed Interstate 15 from right before Barstow, California to just past the California-Nevada border in Primm. None of the robot vehicles finished the route. The vehicle of Carnegie Mellon University's Red Team traveled the furthest distance, completing {{convert|11.78|km|mi|abbr=on}} of the course. The $1 million prize remained unclaimed.
Preliminary tests
File:Team Caltech at March 2004 DARPA Grand Challenge QID.jpg. Team Caltech qualified and was selected to start third in the challenge.{{cite web |title=Grand Challenge 2004 Final Report |url=https://www.esd.whs.mil/Portals/54/Documents/FOID/Reading%20Room/DARPA/15-F-0059_GC_2004_FINAL_RPT_7-30-2004.pdf |website=esd.whs.mil |access-date=21 November 2021}}]]
Prior to the main event in the Mojave Desert, the twenty-one qualifying teams were required to navigate a mile-long obstacle course at California Speedway. Seven teams were able to successfully finish the entire course, while eight others completed enough of it to satisfy the judges, resulting in fifteen vehicles making it to the final race."The robots were put through obstacle and speed tests to make sure they would be safe. While only seven teams completed the speedway course, eight others came close enough to convince judges that they could safely compete." {{cite web|url=http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/ptech/03/12/darpa.race/index.html|title=15 teams qualify for Mojave robot race|author=Marsha Walton|date=2004-05-04|publisher=CNN}}
The event
Unfortunately, the failures during the preliminary tests were indicative of how the vehicles would perform on the actual course. Two of the fifteen vehicles had to be withdrawn before the final race began.{{cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3512270.stm|publisher=BBC|date=2004-05-15|title=Desert race too tough for robots}} Another vehicle also had to be withdrawn because it flipped upside down in the starting area. Three hours into the event which was scheduled to last ten hours, only four vehicles remained operational. The vehicles suffered from a variety of mechanical problems, including "stuck brakes, broken axles, rollovers, and malfunctioning satellite navigation equipment."{{cite web|title=$1 Million Pentagon-Sponsored Robot Race Ends As All Entries Break Down|author=Andrew Bridges (Associated Press)|date=2004-05-13|url=http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/technology/darpa_race_040313.html|publisher=Space.com}}
Within a few hours, all of the vehicles in the challenge had suffered critical failures, had been disqualified, or had withdrawn. The furthest any of the teams got was the Red Team's {{convert|7.4|mi|km}}, less than 5% off the full length of the course. Their vehicle, Sandstorm, went off-course in a hairpin turn and got stuck on the embankment.{{cite web|url=http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2004-06/darpa-grand-challenge-2004darpas-debacle-desert|title=From Darpa Grand Challenge 2004: DARPA's Debacle in the Desert|author=Joseph Hooper|date=June 2004|publisher=Popular Science}} The next furthest vehicles were those of the SciAutonics II Team, which traversed {{convert|6.7|mi|km}} before becoming stuck on an embankment; Team DAD (Digital Auto Drive), which drove {{convert|6.0|mi|km}} before getting stuck on a rock; and the Golem Group, which made it {{convert|5.2|mi|km}} before becoming trapped on a steep hill.
The results
File:DARPA Challenge TeamEnsco.jpg
Although the initial race was deemed a failure, as no vehicles achieved anything close to the goal, DARPA was committed to running the challenge for as long as Congressional authority allowed (which would have been until 2007, but the goal was reached in 2005). The first Grand Challenge is considered by some to be a success, mainly because it spurred interest and innovation.
In addition to the difficulty most vehicles had with the harsh terrain, many initial designs also struggled to handle both sensing upcoming obstacles and following the GPS waypoints simultaneously. DARPA Grand Challenge deputy program manager Tom Strat said, "some of the vehicles were able to follow the GPS waypoints very accurately; but were not able to sense obstacles ahead....Other vehicles were very good at sensing obstacles, but had difficulty following waypoints or were scared of their own shadow, hallucinating obstacles when they weren't there."{{cite web|url=http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/ptech/03/14/darpa.race/index.html|author=Marsha Walton|publisher=CNN|title=Robots fail to complete Grand Challenge|date=2004-05-06}}
Several teams returned the next year, learning from the 2004 event and updating their designs.
Alumni of the 2004 DARPA Grand Challenge include Kyle Vogt, co-founder of self-driving car company Cruise.
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
=Official sites=
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20130204064729/http://archive.darpa.mil/grandchallenge04/ The home page of the 2004 DARPA Grand Challenge]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20130225155404/http://archive.darpa.mil/grandchallenge04/teams.htm DGC-2004 Teams]
=TV & Video coverage=
- [https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/darpa/ NOVA: The Great Robot Race]
=Press Coverage=
- [https://www.theregister.co.uk/content/28/36231.html The Register: Final robot grunts picked for $1million DARPA race]
- [https://www.theregister.co.uk/content/28/36234.html The Register: DARPA's Grand Challenge proves to be too grand]
- [https://edition.cnn.com/2004/TECH/ptech/03/14/darpa.race/ CNN.com: Robots fail to complete Grand Challenge]
- [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/03/14/ROBOT.TMP SFGate.com: Robot race suffers quick, ignoble end]
- [http://hobbiton.thisside.net/darpa/ 2004 DARPA Grand Challenge Image Gallery]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20071109121525/http://www.roboticspot.com/spot/especial/darpa2004/ 2004 DARPA Grand Challenge in Spanish]
- [https://archive.today/20121216132756/http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/jissue/112753748/ Journal of Field Robotics, Special Issue on DARPA Grand Challenge, Part 1 ]
- [https://archive.today/20121216160801/http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/jissue/113349538/ Journal of Field Robotics, Special Issue on DARPA Grand Challenge, Part 2 ]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20071105130618/http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/robotics/2169012.html Popular Mechanics article on the DARPA Grand Challenge].
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20071109221004/http://www.popsci.com/popsci/darpachallenge/2e1822e204bd6010vgnvcm1000004eecbccdrcrd.html Popular Science article on the DARPA Grand Challenge].
- [http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=000000A3-4BCC-13A8-8BCC83414B7F0000&sc=I100322 Scientific American article on the DARPA Grand Challenge].
- [https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/darpa/ NOVA: The Great Robot Race]
=Team Sites=
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