DARPA Robotics Urban Challenge
http://www.darpa.mil/grandchallenge/docs/urb_challenge_announce.pdf
$2 million prize for building a robot that can win a 60-mile race through urban terrain in under 6 hours. A couple hundred thousand for placing second or third in the race. $50K - $100K for completing the qualifying runs, plus $1 million in federal funding available to competitors in exchange for licensing rights. Race in November 2007.
I don't see entering this one without a lot of help. There are teams that have been doing the DARPA outdoor challenge for two years now, and presumably gotten pretty good at it. We'd need some serious breakthroughs in sensor data processing, driving algorithms, etc. to even have a shot, plus auto shop tools and investment in the actual vehicle. But I'll have fun cheering.
As far as I know, this makes three major, continuing engineering prize programs:
DARPA
NASA Centennial Challenges
X-Prize Foundation
I would love to see this kind of thing gain traction as a way of producing innovation and inspiring new ideas. There is a magic and a glory in competition that all the grant proposals in the world can't match.
$2 million prize for building a robot that can win a 60-mile race through urban terrain in under 6 hours. A couple hundred thousand for placing second or third in the race. $50K - $100K for completing the qualifying runs, plus $1 million in federal funding available to competitors in exchange for licensing rights. Race in November 2007.
I don't see entering this one without a lot of help. There are teams that have been doing the DARPA outdoor challenge for two years now, and presumably gotten pretty good at it. We'd need some serious breakthroughs in sensor data processing, driving algorithms, etc. to even have a shot, plus auto shop tools and investment in the actual vehicle. But I'll have fun cheering.
As far as I know, this makes three major, continuing engineering prize programs:
DARPA
NASA Centennial Challenges
X-Prize Foundation
I would love to see this kind of thing gain traction as a way of producing innovation and inspiring new ideas. There is a magic and a glory in competition that all the grant proposals in the world can't match.