Today was the first day of the actual competition. We arrived this morning, unloaded the robot and set up our pit area. We passed the qualification run in the early afternoon, leaving us much time to test, debug and fine tune our software.

The IGVC consists of three main ‘challenges’. The Navigation Challenge tests robots’ ability to reach GPS waypoints while avoiding obstacles such as trash cans, traffic barriers and fences. The Autonomous Challenge tests robots’ ability to detect and follow lane markings painted in the grass, also while avoiding a variety of obstacles. Finally, the Design Challenge consists of a technical paper and an oral presentation. Our tech paper was submitted a few weeks ago, and our presentation is at 3pm on Saturday.

We packed up our rented van with our luggage, tools, equipment and yes…our robot, Kratos. The 640 mile drive from Princeton to the competition site in Auburn Hills, MI took about 12 hours - we spent the night in eastern Ohio. After arriving in Michigan this morning, we checked-in to our hotel and were able squeeze in some last minute testing. Please watch today’s video summary:

Tomorrow (Friday) is the first day of the competition. Stay tuned for further updates on our experiences and progress.

For the past semester, a team of nine students on PAVE have been building a robot for the 2008 Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition (IGVC). The IGVC will be held in Rochester, MI from May 30 to June 2.

The student’s robot, called Kratos, is 3 feet wide, 4 feet long, stands 5 feet tall and weights in at 210 lbs. It has an array of sensors including a GPS receiver, digital compass and color stereo camera. With these, it can navigate between waypoints on a field while safely avoiding obstacles such as trash cans, cones barricades and fences. Kratos is also capable of detecting and following lane markings painted in the grass or road. A copy of our technical paper will be available.

We will update the website with our progress during the IGVC … stay tuned.

Special thanks to the School of Engineering and Applied Science, the Keller Center for Innovation in Engineering Education and Ted Todd ‘67 for supporting our efforts.

For the past few months we’ve been analyzing our performance as a team during the duration of the Urban Challenge. Through our participation in the Urban Challenge, we’ve learned valuable lessons in teamwork and leadership. Those lessons will be incorporated into our current research efforts.

During the fall of 2007, we recruited many new members who are now active participants on PAVE. They will be working with us as we continue our research efforts in autonomous vehicles. While the primary goal of PAVE will be to continue our work on Prospect 12, our Urban Challenge vehicle, a group of PAVE members will be competing in the 2008 Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition, to be held between May 30 - June 2.

It was incredibly exciting for us to be in attendance at the NQE for the Urban Challenge and to watch the final race on November 3. We regret to announce that we were not accepted as a finalist for the Urban Challenge. The selection process was extremely rigorous: Though DARPA had announced their intent to accept 20 finalists (from amoung the 35 semi-finalists), only 11 teams moved on.

We would like to extend our congratulations to all the finalist teams, and especially to the six teams that finished the race: Cornell, Ben Franklin Racing, MIT, VictorTango, Stanford Racing and Tartan Racing.

PAVE would especially like to thank all of the individuals and organizations that have supported our group over the past year, including our sponsors, faculty and staff of the School of Engineering, parents and friends. Your support has enabled an exciting and instructional experience for all of the students involved and we are extremely grateful.

PAVE is currently in the process of evaluating our performance and planning future projects - stay tuned!