The Book: The University of Louisiana's CajunBot

[Hammer58]

Well, CajunBot was officially disabled after travelling a full 18 miles autonomously. This was far greater than we had hoped for. It was good enough for a top-15 finish.

So why did we stop? DARPA had to "pause" our vehicle to allow some cross traffic to go through. In the process of being paused for fifty minutes, one of the actuator's that control the steering overheated and quit working. Not cool. Bottom line, if we did not have to pause there, we could have finished the course. But hey, what can you do?

Still a good effort. You guys showed you were among the best in the country.

[BabbForHeisman]

Interesting note as well...six of the teams that finished ahead of us were actually based in private industry, so we finished 9th among university based teams.

[JMV JustMyView]

Good turnout fot a great group of guys..

[RaisingCajun08]

The special thing about CajunBot is that it has been done with a budget only worth a fraction of what some of the other teams have. Much of our gear and equipment has been donated or even borrowed.

This whole project would not have been possible without the support of the community. There are too many people to thank here, but I especially wanted to thank GolfBalls.com for giving us these sweet hats...

I noticed on the website that you guys are competing against some heavy duty equipment. A couple teams are sporting the real Hummers (H1). You guys are doing a GREAT job representing UL. If this does not prove to the world how creative & smart our engineers are I dont know what will.

[RaisingCajun08]

I just went to www.cajunbot.com & saw the new Ragin Bot. All I have to say is that the other teams better watch there backs because a red Jeep is fixing to be breathing down there necks.

Good luck to you guys in the future!

[RaginFan2]

Interesting note as well...six of the teams that finished ahead of us were actually based in private industry, so we finished 9th among university based teams.

Wow! Even more impressive! Way to go! Hope this spurs the depts. on to additional innovative projects. This should also help in recruiting bright new students to the university. I'd like to see more interdepartmental cooperation for these types of projects.

[BonCajun]

How cool would it have been if at the 15 mile mark the road narrowed to 5 feet wide. There go the dummer hummers. If this is for defense the CajunBot is the perfect size. In Afganistan they won't always have a road waiting for you.

[shof]

Just saw this on MSN website:

Just months after awarding $2 million for a sport utility vehicle that drove itself over more than 100 miles of open road, the Pentagon on Monday unveiled a bigger, richer challenge for self-driving vehicles that can negotiate city traffic.

Veterans of the Defense Advance Research Projects Agency's earlier "Grand Challenges" said the technologies developed for the next contest will clearly benefit the U.S. military, which has set the goal of automating a third of its ground vehicles by 2015. But they said the innovations could have an even bigger impact on driving in America.

"It might fundamentally alter the way we use our highways and save trillions of dollars," said Sebastian Thrun, the Stanford University computer-science professor whose team won the Grand Challenge race last October.

The rest of the story at: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12583619/

Shof

[BabbForHeisman]

Just saw this on MSN website:

Just months after awarding $2 million for a sport utility vehicle that drove itself over more than 100 miles of open road, the Pentagon on Monday unveiled a bigger, richer challenge for self-driving vehicles that can negotiate city traffic.

Veterans of the Defense Advance Research Projects Agency's earlier "Grand Challenges" said the technologies developed for the next contest will clearly benefit the U.S. military, which has set the goal of automating a third of its ground vehicles by 2015. But they said the innovations could have an even bigger impact on driving in America.

"It might fundamentally alter the way we use our highways and save trillions of dollars," said Sebastian Thrun, the Stanford University computer-science professor whose team won the Grand Challenge race last October.

The rest of the story at: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12583619/

Shof

There's been talk of something like this for a while, since the last challenge ended. We were just waiting for an official announcment. I can't speak for the team since I haven't been very involved in the last few months, but I would be willing to say that Ragin'Bot is up for the challenge.

Sadly, CajunBot wouldn't work very well in that sort of environment. It's built more of desert conditions. But Ragin'Bot is a Jeep Wrangler, so it can handle pretty much anything. We'll see!

[NewsCopy]

LOS ANGELES -- The winners of last year's Pentagon-sponsored robot race are back to take on another challenge -- this time to develop a vehicle that can drive through congested city traffic all by itself. Stanford University, whose unmanned Volkswagen dubbed Stanley won last year's desert race, was among 11 teams selected Monday to receive government money to participate in a contest requiring robots to carry out a simulated military supply mission. Stanford, which teamed up with the German automaker again, will enter a Passat sedan outfitted with the latest sensors, lasers and other high-tech gear. Engineers have tested the car on a closed course and will begin actual tests after scientists finish writing the program that will serve as the car's brain. "It's definitely a more challenging problem scientifically," said team member David Stavens. The rest of the story By ALICIA CHANG : AP Science Writer