DARPA's Urban Challenge
DARPA's Urban Challenge was, in some ways, a bait and switch. Carmakers touted it as the next great evolutionary leap for the autonomous automobile, but the Pentagon's research arm was investigating the prospect of self-driving vehicles that can carry supplies or wounded soldiers through the urban battlefield.
Now, the United Kingdom's Ministry of Defence (MoD) has held its own robotics competition, the Grand Challenge, that cut to the chase with unmanned vehicles stalking human targets through the Copehill Down training village in southwestern England. The finals took place this weekend, and the MoD announced the winners yesterday.
A key difference between the Grand Challenge and DARPA's Challenges is hardware diversity. The robots who slogged through the training village, picking out an array of potential targets—including uniformed troops, armed snipers perched in windows and roadside bombs—ranged from familiar, sensor-studded unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) to swarms of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Some teams even used a combination of ground and air bots, since UAVs might be useful for spotting a tactical (a pickup with a mounted weapon) while UGVs are better at detecting improvised bombs. Less "operator intervention" required to navigate the village, find warm bodies and differentiate between civilians and legitimate military targets earned more points.
Stellar won the competition with its SATURN system, and PM picked three other teams that took innovative approaches to the challenge. The winner won't receive a cash prize, so the entire competition was essentially an open audition. The most impressive systems could land contracts with the MoD or be snapped up by larger defense firms, even if they didn't take home the trophy.
DARPA's Urban Challenge was, in some ways, a bait and switch. Carmakers touted it as the next great evolutionary leap for the autonomous automobile, but the Pentagon's research arm was investigating the prospect of self-driving vehicles that can carry supplies or wounded soldiers through the urban battlefield.
Now, the United Kingdom's Ministry of Defence (MoD) has held its own robotics competition, the Grand Challenge, that cut to the chase with unmanned vehicles stalking human targets through the Copehill Down training village in southwestern England. The finals took place this weekend, and the MoD announced the winners yesterday.
A key difference between the Grand Challenge and DARPA's Challenges is hardware diversity. The robots who slogged through the training village, picking out an array of potential targets—including uniformed troops, armed snipers perched in windows and roadside bombs—ranged from familiar, sensor-studded unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) to swarms of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Some teams even used a combination of ground and air bots, since UAVs might be useful for spotting a tactical (a pickup with a mounted weapon) while UGVs are better at detecting improvised bombs. Less "operator intervention" required to navigate the village, find warm bodies and differentiate between civilians and legitimate military targets earned more points.
Stellar won the competition with its SATURN system, and PM picked three other teams that took innovative approaches to the challenge. The winner won't receive a cash prize, so the entire competition was essentially an open audition. The most impressive systems could land contracts with the MoD or be snapped up by larger defense firms, even if they didn't take home the trophy.
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