MIT Students Create Car That Drives Itself

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MIT Students Create Car That Drives Itself

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[q
url="http://www.thebostonchannel.com/bostonmarathon/14151266/detail.html"]BOSTON
-- Thirty-six teams from across the country are getting ready to
compete in the ultimate robot challenge. Creating a robotic vehicle
that can travel in any urban setting is the goal of the DARPA Urban
Challenge.

NewsCenter 5's David Brown reported that one team from MIT is in overdrive as they shift their vehicle in high gear.

The Land Rover LR3 is decked out with $400,000 worth of gizmos and
gadgets. Fifteen radars, 13 remote sensing lasers -- called lidars --
and six cameras feed a computer that will ultimately drive the car.

After 16 months of design, development and construction, the MIT
team is headed to California and the DARPA competition. Sponsored by
the Department of Defense, the challenge is to develop a car that
drives itself in traffic.

"To have a robot that can drive in traffic, that just captured our
imagination. We felt then that this is an impossible challenge. It's
very, very difficult. That's why we were drawn to it," MIT professor
John Leonard said.

The team is made up of electrical and mechanical engineering
students and students in computer science. They took the every-day task
of driving and taught it to a computer.

"We take for granted when we look out our windshield -- there's a
car, there's a car and we know exactly how fast it is going. It's
really very hard for a computer," MIT student Edwin Olson said.

This is where the technology comes in. Out in front are lidars that
can see distance and range. On top cameras, radars and lasers are
scanning, too. The information is fed inside, where the computer
accelerates, brakes and steers. Complicated driving maneuvers are
solved, and the car can make driving decisions.

Although it is for a national competition, it does have real-world
application. The military is interested in the robotic technology, and
automakers want the computer software.

"They are interested in putting this technology into cars for active
safety -- so not replacing the human driver, but trying to prevent
accidents," Olson said.

The competition could net MIT a $2 million prize.[/q]