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“..Ask not what your country can do for you;
ask what you can do for your country.” J. F.K 1961
DARPA is the central research and development (R&D) agency in the DoD and has funded major technology breakthroughs such as the Internet, Stealth aircraft, smart bombs, and the pilot less Predator aircraft. DARPA has a distinguished reputation among leaders in the technology, science, and academic communities. DARPA usually accomplishes its work by dispensing money in the form of contracts but the competition format is a new approach to harness American ingenuity and inspire a new wave of innovation. Your country needs your help. You can make a difference!
The first DARPA Grand Challenge Field Test Event was conducted on March 13, 2004, along a 142 mile route that ran from the Barstow California - near Los Angeles CA to Primm NV outside Las Vegas. Of the 106 teams registered 15 autonomous vehicles were selected to navigate the tough course. None crossed the finish line but the excitement generated by the first Field Test has continued to build in anticipation of 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge. The field tests will continue until a team vehicle is awarded the prize money.
The second DARPA Grand Challenge Event was held Oct. 8, 2005 on a 132 mile desert obstacle outside of Primm NV. Of the 195 teams registered five vehicles crossed the finish line. A two million dollar check was awarded to the team sponsored by Volks Wagen - Stanford University.
Now the DARPA Grand Challenge is moving into a new phase. The next race will be Nov. 3, 2007 and will be 60 miles of dense urban traffic for the autonomous vehicles to deal with. Maximum speed allowed will be 30 miles per hour. The course and the vehicles assigned missions will need to be completed in less than six hours without touching another vehicle or obstacle. Vehicles will need to make a number of stops as if making deliveries and will be scored on their demonstrated driving skills. This is an interesting engineering problem for AMERICAN INDUSTRIAL MAGIC team members to work on.
AMERICAN INDUSTRIAL MAGIC, LLC was established by Marine Paul F. Grayson to provide the legal structure for his team to enter the DARPA Urban Challenge. It is hoped that this race will be only the first of a long series of important scientific and engineering problems the members of the AIM team will solve.
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Test Vehicle #1 is known as AV GRACE HOPPER, named in honor of one of the worlds pioneers in computer technology. Grace Murray Hopper (1906-1992) obtained her Ph.D. in mathematics from Yale University in 1934. She was an associate professor of mathematics at Vassar College when she joined the Women's Reserve of the United States Navy, Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES) in 1944 and was assigned to the computing project at Harvard University. She served under Commander Howard H. Aiken as a Wave until 1946, and remained at Harvard's Computation Laboratory as a research fellow until 1949. In that year she joined the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation as a senior mathematician. When Eckert-Mauchly became a division of Remington Rand, Hopper remained as senior programmer, a title she retained until 1959. Subsequently, she served as systems engineer and director of automatic programming development (1959-1964) and staff scientist in systems programming (1964-1971) for the UNIVAC division of Sperry Rand Corporation. Hopper retired from UNIVAC in 1972, having returned to active service in the U.S. Navy from which she eventually retired with the rank of Rear Admiral.
Test Vehicle #2 is known as Test Vehicle TRINITY SITE, named after a fictional character in the MATRIX and has had a complete appearance make over by our sponsor Britten Media, who has created a racing graphic design and wrapped the vehicle completely in it. Where the graphics cover the windows special material was used that allows the sensors and vehicle test crew to see out.
