Hi,

I'd just like to throw a little more info in on this topic.  I do have a
bit of knowledge in this area.

The robot race mentioned here, was an extremely difficult off-road race.
The course wasn't given to the robots until two hours before the start of
the race.

Carnegie Mellon, where I work, has been involved with autonomous
navigation for many years.  I've known, and worked with, several of the
people who were involved in our earliest trials, back in the mid 80s.

Autonomous navigation on road with a known course is very different than
the race mentioned here.  CMU has had one of our vehicles, with a human
driver in the vehicle but not touching the wheel, driving on the highway
at speeds over 55MPH.  Following the road, making turns, breaking so as
not to overtake other vehicles.

My point is simply that the state of the art is actually quite a bit
better than the race results imply.

Later.


--
Blue skies.
Dan Rossi
Carnegie Mellon University.
E-Mail: [log in to unmask]
Tel:    (412) 268-9081


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