The Book: The University of Louisiana's CajunBot

[DieHard1280]

Looks like the Cajunbot is disabled less than a mile into the run. Bummer!! Great job anyway. They represented our University very well.

[Turbine]

A 142 mile course and no entrant made it past 7 miles.

I guess one mil should be hard.

[RaginFan2]

That's too bad. But the fact that no one went more than 7 miles shows how difficult a challenge it is. I agree that Team Cajunbot represented our university very well! This event is another proud moment for the University of Louisiana. We're starting to accumulate many of these moments, which bodes well for the future. More great things are ahead!

Great job, Team Cajunbot!

[RaginRash]

No one expected to finish the course. The fact that Team Cajunbot was selected and MADE the qualifying round with no Robotics major/curriculum at UL, starting the project a few months ago, and doing better than many well financed and talented teams is a testament to the strength, ability, and potential this team and University have.

GEAUX CAJUNS! This team really kicked some major sss.

[NewsCopy]

ULL team's creation gives middle-school students front-row seat

LOUISIANA La. -- The University of Louisiana's Team CajunBot put their creation through its paces Thursday for a crowd of seventh- through ninth-graders from Avoyelles Parish.

Then, the team gave some of the teens the controls.

A team of ULL students and faculty built the six-wheeled, 1,200-pound robot in 2003 to compete in a Department of Defense competition to develop autonomous robots capable of moving through dangerous areas.

Team CajunBot was one of only 15 to qualify for the 210-mile race in March. While it didn't win the race between Barstow Calif., and Primm, Nev., neither did any of the other entries.

Team CajunBot member Scott Wilson said he doesn't expect any school to get across the finish line the next time either.

The next race will have a pot of $2 million awaiting the winner, if there is one.

The rest of the story

By PATRICK COURREGES
pcourreges@theadvocate.com
Acadiana bureau

[BabbForHeisman]

The CajunBot team will be entering two vehicles in this October's competition, the old six-wheel vehicle (with numerous modifications) and a second vehicle, a brand new red jeep.

The jeep now officially has a name: Ragin'Bot.

Check out prelimary video of the Ragin'Bot here:

http://cajunbot.com/site70.php

[NewsCopy]

Last year, students at the University of Louisiana jokingly referred to themselves as the Jamaican bobsledding team of robotics.

But, as it turned out, there was nothing funny about the impressive performance put on by a small group of UL students and a robot that more than held its own in a race across the desert.

Now one year later, the CajunBot is preparing for another run at the Brass Ring and a million dollars in prize money.

UL president Ray Authement told a group of faculty and students outside of Dupre Library last year he had always dreamed of the day when UL would compete with big league universities.

In March of last year, that dream came true when a small group of UL students entered the CajunBot in a high-tech race across the desert sponsored by the U.S. military.

The Pentagon's desert race competition pitted autonomously-controlled vehicles from some of the nation's most prestigious universities in contest to see who could build a self-navigating vehicle capable of traveling 150 miles across the desert in ten hours or less.

As it turned out, there were no winners last year, but UL and the CajunBot did well enough to earn another chance this year.

The CajunBot uses a combination of GPS navigation, lasers and sonar to see the ground in front of it and then proceed along the path of least resistance.

The rest of the story

[snote]

board question?

which cajunbot team memeber will be on the radio in the morning?

hint: no dumb jock him (grins)

[BabbForHeisman]

Jonathan Raush would be the best guess I have.

Either that, or Ross Mouton joined the CajunBot team.

Or somehow I made it on the radio.

Gosh that narrowed it down.

[snote]

Originally posted by BabbForHeisman
Jonathan Raush would be the best guess I have.

good guess - he did well..