Sunday, October 28, 2007 5:53PM PDT
We just returned from our first run on NQE Test course B. Having overcome the various technical issues that plauged us over the last few days we were able to start up all of our systems and start our run. As soon as the vehicle left the start line, however, we knew something was wrong. Our audible warning signal (which, for anyone who has heard it and was wondering, beeps out “PAVE” in morse code) was going extremely slowly. This told us that the computer was not functioning well. Sure enough, the slow update rate caused our steering controller to oscillate wildly and our vehicle was disabled about 100 feet down the course.
Saturday, October 27, 2007 11:36PM PDT
For the past few days, we’ve been busy troubleshooting a vareity of problems. Since yesterday, we’ve been wrestling with problems in our State Estimation code and our mechanical E-Brake piston, both of which were preventing us from successfully finishing our E-Stop test. Luckily, we were able to pass the test just in time. Since then, we’ve been working on preparing our navigation code and car detection code for tomorrow’s runs. We’re scheduled to do a qualifying run at 4PM tomorrow, so check back after then for more updates.
Friday, October 26, 2007 3:14PM PDT
We had our E-Stop Test this morning, and were unable to pass it. Before we could even get off the start line, one of our computers died with a stop error. Once that issue was rectified, we were unable to get our GPS and State Estimation code to properly display our location & heading. Stuck with these problems, we went past our 30 minute time limit and are going to have to re-schedule our E-Stop test. We currently think that the move from East Coast to West Coast may have affected a few parameters and hope to have this fixed soon.
Thursday, October 25, 2007 8:46PM PDT
Today, our team arrived at Victorville, CA, the site of the 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge. We’re glad to report that our vehicle, Prospect Twelve, made the journey across the country intact, with no incident at all. We’re excited to be at the event, and looking forward to the opening ceremonies tomorrow. We’ll be updating this page daily with information on how we are doing. Check back soon for photos, videos, and status updates!
