DARPA Grand Challenge 2005 Starts Oct. 8

Everybody loves a race! I know I do. The revving engines, pointless waste of natural resources, time and energy just to see who can drive in a big circle faster...
No, wait. That's NASCAR. I'm talking about a REAL race.

The DARPA Grand Challenge is my kind of race. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) hosted the first of what is promised would be an annual series of technological challenges for robotic engineers. First up: Build a vehicle that can navigate an obstacle course without any outside help at all; A completely autonomous, mobile robot.

Last year's prize was $1 million and a military defense contract worth an untold fortune. Fifteen builders made it past the semi-finals and nobody finished the race. In fact, the team that went the furthest still only made it about seven miles. (Read all the details from DARPA Grand Challenge 2004 here.)

This year they upped the prize money to $2 million and hundreds of competitors came knocking, from 37 states and three countries. (Robots.net has posted a copy of the complete rules here.)

I am looking forward to see who wins this year--and believe me when I say there will be a winner. The future looks bright for drone technology. Soon, everybody's going to want one...