Industrial Scanning

THE DARPA URBAN CHALLENGE 20.04.2008

When five autonomous vehicles, finished the 2005 Grand Challenge in the still Nevada desert, they passed a milestone of artificial intelligence. The robots in the 2007 Urban Challenge, however, have to handle traffic. It is a tougher test that calls for a new generation of technology. For long range obstacle detection a RIEGL LMS Q120 is mounted forward-facing on the vehicle .During the Urban Challenge, sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the competing robots had to accomplish missions in a simulated city environment, which included the traffic of the other robots and traffic laws. This means that on race day, Nov. 3 - 2007, the robots not only had to avoid collisions, but also they had to master concepts that befuddle many humans, such as right of way. Nov. 5 (10:06 a.m.): Junior won second place, $1 million, and a giant eagle statue at a DARPA medal ceremony.