The U.S. military’s sprawling logistics system has always been its most vulnerable flank. Two years ago Iraqi insurgents figured that out. In 2004 and 2005, attacks on supply trucks killed hundreds of U.S. troops. More escorts and thicker armor eventually trumped insurgent attacks — for now — but the military hasn’t forgotten just how hairy it got. In typical American fashion, the military decided one of the best ways to protect logistics troops was to fire them, and make supply convoys autonomous.
It’s freezing cold this morning at an abandoned U.S. Air Force base near Victorville, California. In just a few minutes, officials from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency will fire the gun to begin the 60-mile, 6-hour Urban Challenge robot race. The idea: to demonstrate the technology that might one day result in fully robotic supply trucks that can find their way through intersections, maneuver around obstacles, change lanes and stop on a dime when some kid runs across the road. The prize: a $3.5 million check from Uncle Sam.
Two weeks ago, there were 35 teams from universities and industry vying for a spot in the final race. After rigorous testing, during which the robots were required to adhere to California traffic laws, only 11 teams are left. One disqualified robot plowed into a human-driven Darpa car. Others freaked out at intersections, parking lots or left turns.
Read the rest of David Axe’s brief from Aviation Week HERE.
{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
Woo hoo, go Tartans!
BTW, more info here:
http://www.popularmechanics.com/blogs/technology_news/4229745.html
TG Daily has some video of the race.
http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/34687/113/
I’m really surprised the military doesn’t promote this event more… It’s like NASCAR for geeks.
IMHO. The Army should host an Armed Combat Robot Shootout. It could consist of an obstacle course, a basic task test, a Hogans alley, and end with an all out death match. You could have divisions for remotely operated, semi-autonomous, & fully autonomous (team or single bots)(big, little, or small). It could take place in a old quarry, or at NTC. End the death match with a 155mm Fire For Effect, slap some Army recruitment logos, and broadcast it over the net.
Post a prize, date, and regulations… & people will compete. Maybe Military.Com could co-sponsor. :)
Camp,
I agree. I watched the event via the DARPA website on the day of the race … their coverage was mediocre at best.
Considering where this tech was in 2004 at the first race and where it is now, I’m surprised this sort of forum (open competition between universities) isn’t used more.
Dan,
This sort of thing does happen is used quite a bit, just not at this level. Back at Michigan State when I was in school the engineering students ran competitions in mini-baja racing and solar cars with their own vehicles they designed and built. Things like that are done all the time between universities, but there aren’t that many groups out there with the ability to sponsor an all-out competition of the magnitude that DARPA is. And DARPA has been doing this type of thing annually since the original Space-X competition.
Once again were paying someone a boat load of money, just so they can tell us that a human in the driver seat is better. Honestly what chance are those high tech censers going to have once they get shot. It will take maybe a single day for the enemy to learn that all you need to do is shoot the first one, and you just got a whole convoy of supplies. Maybe im exasperating a little but I hate the idea of robots driving combat convoys. We will spend a zillion dollars just to realize a human in the driver seat can do the job 50 times better.
22lr,
This technology isn’t just for autonomous vehicles. It can also be used for enhancing humans “in the driver seat”, such as drivers who fall asleep or become impaired, or highlighting obstacles & choices to drivers via a HUD (ie. AI co-driver/co-pilot). But it’s greatest advantage will come when you have to recon an urban area or a route that may be too dangerous for people… or when you don’t have enough people. Not to mention there isn’t enough signal space (clear, crypt, or jammed) for everyones toys in the future… so autonomous has a place.
Greg,
I maybe wrong, but I think the lack of visibility is the greatest problem when trying to get sponsors. If the Universities pooled their resources & created a single entity to admin/promote these events, as well as creating a single place on the net where you can watch the “games”… they might have better success.
>Once again were paying someone a boat load of money, just so they can tell us that a human in
>the driver seat is better. Honestly what chance are those high tech censers going to have once
>they get shot.
Here is another idiot who knows nothing. Well, its not your bussiness and you don’t need to know anyways. Only the terrorists will know at the time a terrible thing to target these, but at the time they know, they will be dead.
@ camp
LOL, I can drive my truck faster, with more firepower, safer, and deliver my passengers to there destination better than any robot could ever do. how is one of these going to stand up to a sand storm? How is one going to take a bullet? How is one going to respond when the truck in front gets hit, can the computer help a down soldier. No computer is going to run over and get a wounded soldier help.
Not going to get into the argument of manned vehicle vs remote controlled vs autonomous robot. If you want to get your supplies through to, putting them in a robotic vehicle doesn’t help. All it does is keep a driver alive when the bad guys stop the truck. And as other people have already mentioned, makes it more likely that the truck gets stopped in the 1st place.
The article seems to imply more convoys will make it through with robotic technology; but all it does is lower the body count when a convoy is stopped in the first place.
Much easier to test out robotic technology on logistics convoys than say, tanks. They’ll probably get a bunch of use stateside…we may have Transport Company (drone) with a bunch of mechanics and automated transports for a little while, until the whole force is ready for the technology.