Victorville, California…

  • August 16, 2007 9:30 pm
_MG_3648

… you’ve been Urban Challenged.

On Thursday, August 9th, 2007, my friends and I, along with most of TeamCASE, stood silent in front of Andy Horchler’s laptop during a brief break from our field testing. In the background, a Discovery Science channel video crew awaits for our reaction to the all-important announcement. In just a few moments, we would be told if we were going to continue our quest for the $2 million DARPA-hosted prize in autonomous robotics.

Dr. Tony Tether appears — and begins to discuss the various elements that will make up the Urban Challenge on November 3rd, 2007. He marvels at the teams’ progress so far. The location is announced — Victorville, California. A satellite image shows a decommissioned air force base that is now used for military field training. The base is soon to be completely shut down and turned into a robotics course for the national spotlight.

Over ninety teams initially showed interest in the Urban Challenge. Only fifty-two teams passed the video evaluation. It is announced that thirty-six teams will be invited to the NQE, or National Qualification Event. For a brief few seconds — the list appears; Team CASE has made it. The Team cheers and returns back to testing some new behaviors of DEXTER — the most significant being Parking Lot and zone integration.

We’re proud to say that Case will be in the national spotlight of a prestigious robotics competition that is usually led by the best and top universities in the country. We hope to rise to the expectations of our family, friend, and university administrators and perform well in October/November.

Speaking of the National Spotlight, TeamCASE has been selected as one of approximately ten teams to be highlighted in a six episode TV documentary on the Urban Challenge. The Discovery Science channel is commissioning Marabella Productions to produce the series. So far, a camera crew has tagged with us for four days — capturing over twenty hours of footage. A few photos have been added to the gallery that show us in front of the camera. We are really excited to represent Case Western Reserve University on national television when the show premieres in February.

The CAA and a Dexter Demo

  • June 7, 2007 11:36 pm

Its been a while since I’ve written on my blog… perhaps its because I’ve been really busy with work. Speaking of work, everything is going pretty well with the Urban Challenge here at Case.

This weekend, the Case Alumni Association is having its annual summer reunion. I’ll be covering a lot of their events tomorrow and Saturday for the CAA and will be publishing the resultant photos in the gallery.

If you aren’t familiar, the CAA is an alumni organization that is tightly integrated with the Math, Science, and Engineering departments at Case. They fund many things on campus — including the SOURCE funding that is letting me do research this summer. The CAA also supports an array of scholarships… I don’t know a single student that doesn’t appreciate everything they do! Thanks for everything, CAA!

Team Case is giving a demonstration of Dexter this weekend for the CAA and their reunion attendees. It’ll be happening Saturday morning between 9:00am and Noon at Case’s West Quad parking lot. If you’re interested in going, give me an email and I’ll get you more information.

More to come after the reunion festivities and demo.

DARPA Video Release Brings More Press

  • April 16, 2007 1:29 pm
DSC03176

Team Case has recently released our team’s obstacle avoidance video to DARPA — One of the several requirements that need to be filled before we can race in November. – Our video turned out really good — there are a series of links to the video off Team Case’s video page here. Check it out!

John Mangels, a team member and reporter for the Cleveland Plain Dealer, has reported on the team’s recent accomplishments. He has been continually coming to team meetings and has been working with us since the Auto Show when he released his first article on our team. John thought it would be fun to report about Dexter’s recent “brushing” with a guard rail:

Traveling at about 30 mph on Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.’s Akron test course, Dexter inexplicably lost the GPS satellite signal that continually updates the vehicle’s position. The robot continued straight, even though it was headed for a curve. A team member quickly thumbed the car’s remote kill switch, but the brake pressure didn’t come up fast enough and Dexter coasted into the guardrail.

Fortunately, the damage was limited to a dinged wheel. “It’s as good as a disaster can get,” a relieved Newman said. John Mangels

We were all a little unsure how he would present this “touchy” news, but he presented it well… Thanks, John, for another really awesome article!

See the full article here. Don’t forget to keep an eye on the Plain Dealer for continual news and updates of our team’s progress.