Our Brothers in LA had Dr. Richard Mason of the Golem Group, who finished third place at the DARPA Grand Challenge.
Talking about a challenge, of course the Bay Area can't let that sit "unchallenged". Therefore please join us when the winner: Carnegie Mellon Red Racing Team is visiting SAP Labs in Palo Alto this Thursday :-)
This is not a regular Future Salon, no round of introduction, no chocolate for the one who traveled the furthest, but we are coattailing on an SAP event that is open to the public, and a bit early if you ask me: Date & Time: Thursday, August 19 , 4:30 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. Location: SAP Labs Cafeteria Building: D 3410 Hillview Avenue Palo Alto -- No chocolate, but refreshments will be served. It is free and open to the public.
Speaker: The Red Team is led by Dr. William "Red" Whittaker. He is the Fredkin Research Professor of Robotics at Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute and the founder and director of the Field Robotics Center and the National Robotics Engineering Consortium. He has been named Pittsburgh's Man of the Year in Technology and honored as one of Science Digest's Top 100 US Innovators. His robotics endeavors have won numerous awards.Dr. Whittaker's talk will chronicle the technical and human challenges driving the Red Team's pursuit of the Grand Challenge. "We race to catalyze technology, build new relationships, challenge the view of what's possible, and create new robotic applications in the world. The technical difficulties are enormous, but not beyond grasp," says Whittaker.
I doubt it, but it would be really cool if they bring the car and let it loose on the SAP parking lot, driving over the manicured lawn, bumping into some of the SUVs :-)
Personally I would like to see Cyberrider or the conscious objector as some call him because the motorcycle fell over right at the start.
cyberrider == conscientious objector Watching the live broadcast, the cyberrider just refuses to fight! The flagman waved the green go flag and instead of charging like a good infantryman it just threw itself down to the ground! Of course its from Berkeley so no that surprising I guess. [Actually the motorcycle was Team Blue]
I admit that I am biased, driving a bike myself, but it seems so much more elegant and uhm challenging than the red tank that the Carnegie Mellon team came up with.
Here are my notes back from the day when the event got braodcasted over the net. See you on Thursday.
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