Robots rated as street weapons

ROBOTIC cars have competed in a high-stakes race organised by the US military, which hopes to have driverless vehicle weapons on urban streets by 2015.
The competition, at an unused military base in Victorville, a California town 120km northeast of Los Angeles, promises a first prize of $US2 million ($2.2million).
Cars and trucks with electronic brains, sensors, radar and other gear crafted to eliminate the need for humans at steering wheels had to manoeuvre 100km along mock city streets in less than six hours.
The event began with mechanics, one by one, moving the 11 competitors to the starting line. At the fateful moment, drivers abandoned the vehicles, which began moving on their own, eliciting cheers from thousands of spectators.
The cars picked up pace as they found their way along streets of the closed-down base without any help. Forty other cars, driven by people, set out with the robot vehicles to simulate city traffic.
Teams that qualified for the DARPA Challenge include those from prestigious US universities such as Stanford, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Virginia Tech, where 33 people were slaughtered by a gunman in April.
A car developed by the Australian Centre for Field Robotics at Sydney University, NICTA, the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Technology Sydney, was eliminated during preliminary screening in August.
From one to 1.5 tonnes of equipment, including 17 radar units, was added to the Land Rover, according to Barrett.
Nearby was an entry built with more modest means by students at a Florida university, based on overhauling a 1996 Subaru stationwagon.
"What we had was the old car of the wife of one of our engineers," Florida team member Ben Patz said.
Only seven contenders remained by late morning, and it was Stanford's Volkswagen Passat, nicknamed Junior, that crossed the finish line first.
A colossal Chevrolet Tahoe entered by a team from Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania and backed by money from automotive giant General Motors, finished second.
Virginia Tech's four-by-four Ford took third place.
Finishing first does not guarantee victory because speed is one of several criteria used to decide the champion and who gets the prize money.
DARPA also rates precision while navigating the 100km course. The winner of the DARPA Challenge will be announced on Sunday morning.
Five cars dropped out, meaning the rally crown could be awarded to any of the six finishers, which include MIT, Cornell and the University of Pennsylvania.
Second prize is $US1 million will third prize is $US500,000.
The US Department of Defence hopes using robotic vehicles with no driver will save soldiers from being killed by roadside bombs and other attacks in urban battlefields.
Source: australianit.news.com.au
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