The Observer, November 9, 2007
Volume XL, Issue 10
Team Case just misses finals during first year of DARPA Urban Challenge
After nearly a year-and-a -half journey, Case's DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) Urban Challenge team just missed making the final round of the international Grand Challenge in robotics. But for its first time competing in the challenge, the team was a tremendous success, competing against the most technologically advanced universities and institutions in the world.
The team returned Monday night from its nearly two-week trip to California where the challenge took place. Successfully passing three National Qualifying Exams before it was eliminated, the Case team and its robot, Dexter, performed up to par with the most sophisticated teams. Case had no previous background in autonomous vehicles prior to registration in the competition, yet the team fared among the best.
"Case advanced to compete with a handful of the world's best teams and robots in the space of barely a year. We were competitive in a field of teams (both industrial and academic) with many years of expertise in this area and with budgets an order of magnitude greater than ours," said Wyatt Newman, professor at the EECS and team leader.
"For our first year in the competition, it felt fantastic to be grouped with the top universities that are the true leaders of research. With time and money, it will be no surprise for Case to be known as one of these top universities," said undergraduate team member Bradley Hughes.
The DARPA Urban Challenge was officially announced in May 2006, and during that summer, Case performed some preliminary work in constructing a team, formally registering in September 2006. In October, Case received Dexter from its partner ENSCO, Inc., who built the robot for the 2005 Grand Challenge race in the Mojave Desert. From that point on, the team "passed through multiple milestones, including submitting a safety record that required running Dexter for 500 miles autonomously, submitting a video to qualify for a site visit from DARPA, performing tests at our site visit and submitting a technical paper to qualify for selection to the semifinals, then competing in the National Qualifying Event (NQE) in Victorville, Calif., Oct. 25 to Nov. 1," said Newman.
Of the hundreds of teams that registered, 35 made it to the National Qualifying Exams, and only 11 made the final race. Case was one of the last teams to be cut from the finals.
The competition for Case's team was steep. The Ford and Honeywell companies partnered to create their vehicle, "IVS," and OshKosh had its own truck. The universities of Stanford and Carnegie Mellon were the favorites for the competition, however, for their vast experience and financial and industrial support. But Case's own technology was not far behind: "from reviewing their robots and their technical presentations, it was apparent that they had arrived at many of the same technical conclusions and design choices as Team Case. In the end, our entry was highly competitive with the best," said Newman.
"Every team member will tell you that we have come a long way – in only a year have we acquired a robot 'suitable for the desert,' and taught it to city drive to the best of our abilities. And to think we were so very excited the first time we got 'him' to drive just a straight line," said Andrew Allen, behavioral selection tech lead, in the team's blog.
But the atmosphere was not cutthroat. Teams routinely lent equipment to help out other schools and businesses in need.
"At one point on our trip, three of our main sensors got accidentally fried. At that point, we were still in the playing field; Georgia Tech and CalTech had recently been eliminated. We approached the teams and asked to borrow their sensors. Without hesitation, they lent them to us. The camaraderie in the racing pits was an awesome feeling...they threw us the lifeline we needed and we were very thankful for that," said Hughes.
Newman also commented that the biggest difference between Team Case and other prestigious universities was Case's rookie mistakes. In its first competition, the team lacked a professional staff other teams used generously.
But overall, the competitors and advisors are pleased with their performance and look forward to the possibility of another grand challenge race.
"I am very impressed with how fast we caught up to the front of the pack. Our team was outstandingly dedicated, quick learners, fast troubleshooters, resilient, and maintained a great spirit under pressure and hardship," said Newman.
Many found that the greatest reward in competing was the experience in itself.
"Working with a group of people for so long forms great friendships. I've had a fantastic time getting to know everyone on the team and will definitely miss working with them," said Hughes.
The DARPA Urban Challenge is the third in a series of competitions created by DARPA for continuing the advancement of technology for robotic vehicles. While the Department of Defense has had success with unmanned aerial vehicles, land vehicles remain a challenge, "particularly with respect to interacting with dynamic environments (such as traffic)," said Newman.
Previous DARPA challenges have had competitors run robots through courses in the desert. The Urban Challenge, however, consists of a course through city streets with live traffic. The robots had to perform several missions, which consisted of visiting a sequence of checkpoints while still obeying all traffic laws.
"Performing missions required autonomous planning with respect to an abstract map of street connectivities, then executing such plans by driving along roads while sensing the pavement, obstacles, and other traffic," said Newman.
In the Urban Challenge, the autonomous robots "race against the clock to complete a 60 mile mission in a city environment in pursuit of a $2 million grand prize," said Bradley Farnsworth, sensor tech lead, in the team's blog.
In less than a year, Case was able to perform these tasks alongside the best in the world. However, most of the cteam members felt the best part of the competition was the strong support from the Case community.
"From my perspective, it felt great to have Case and the community behind us. We received much help and many good wishes . . . We are very grateful to have had so many people go above and beyond to help us out," said Newman.
