2005 Grand Challenge

2005 DARPA Grand Challenge

(Virginia Tech's Cliff (left) and Rocky (right))

Para Virginia Tech's new team of 1 faculty, a grad student, 3 volunteers, and 30 senior mechanical engineering students tackle the Grand Challenge for the 2004-2005 school year. With a newly donated 4x4 utility vehicle, Rocky, the team competes with 195 other applicants for the $2 million prize. Teams this year must run a gamut of DARPA judging from registration videos to DARPA site visits, just for a spot in the national semi-final event. The team also set its sights higher, entering both Cliff and Rocky into the competition. Rocky was built on the new vehicle while Cliff was overhauled from the ground up.

Para After reviewing all registration videos, DARPA chose to visit both VT teams in a site visit to judge their rediness for the Challenge. Of 120 team selected for site visits, only 43 would be invited to the semi-final National Qualification Event. At the site visits, Cliff and Rocky dodged obstacles and followed roads with the new stereo vision system as they navigated the quarter-mile course (right).
Para Cliff's demonstration went off flawlessly. On Rocky's first run, a feedback malfunction caused him to take the first hairpin turn at full speed, rolling the vehicle over. The team immediately jumped to Rocky's aid, rolled him back on his wheels, and patched him back together. After that, Rocky completed three successful runs, including a high-speed road following run through an extended course.

Para Both vehicles managed to impress the DARPA judges enough to accept them into the National Qualifying Event (NQE). The NQE was held at California Speedway in Fontana, California. In this event, vehicles from around the country must complete a rigorous obstacle course including barriers such as hills, gates, tunnels, and parked cars. After a computer failure on his first run, Rocky took to this course like second nature and was accepted early into the final event. Cliff had a rough start in his first three tries at the course due to a problematic GPS. After a new unit was shipped overnight from Blacksburg, Virginia, Cliff was better than new with two effortless runs on the course.

Para Not all teams fared as well as Virginia Tech's, and only 21 teams advanced with Cliff and Rocky to the Grand Challenge Event (GCE) to compete for the $2 million prize. In the end, the team led by Stanford University and Volkswagen completed the course in the shortest time. Rocky's generator failed at mile 39 of the course, cutting power to his computers and sensors. Cliff's drivetrain engine stalled on mile 43, coasting to a stop but still trying to navigate further. By distance on the course, Cliff and Rocky placed 8th and 9th. Of 195 original teams, Virginia tech fielded two in the top ten and was the highest-achieving independent university team. By miles traveled at the Grand Challenge per dollars invested, the VT vehicles lead the field. Now that the Grand Challenge is over, Virginia Tech's Unmanned Systems Group continues to lead the way in autonomous robotics, eagerly awaiting the next Grand Challenge.