helping you keep an eye on things...
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The Grand Challenges |
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The Google Lunar X Prize: to be achieved by 31 December 2012 |
- from http://www.googlelunarxprize.org/lunar/about-the-prize/rules-and-guidelines
COMPETITION GUIDELINES: To win the Google Lunar X PRIZE, a team must successfully land a privately funded craft on the lunar surface and survive long enough to complete the mission goals of roaming about the lunar surface for at least 500 meters and sending a defined data package, called a “Mooncast”, back to Earth.
PRIZES: The total purse of the Google Lunar X PRIZE is $30 million (USD).
• GRAND PRIZE: A $20 million Grand Prize will be awarded to the team that can soft land a craft on the Moon that roams for at least 500 meters and transmits a Mooncast back to Earth. The Grand Prize is $20M until December 31st 2012; thereafter it will drop to $15M until December 31st 2014 at which point the competition will be terminated unless extended by Google and the X PRIZE Foundation
• SECOND PRIZE: A $5 million Second Prize will be offered as well, providing an extra incentive for teams to continue to compete, and increasing the possibility that multiple teams will succeed. Second place will be available until December 31st 2014 at which point the competition will be terminated unless extended by Google and the X PRIZE Foundation
• BONUSES: An additional $5 million in bonus prizes can be won by successfully completing additional mission tasks such as roving longer distances (> 5,000 meters), imaging man made artifacts (e.g. Apollo hardware), discovering water ice, and/or surviving through a frigid lunar night (approximately 14.5 Earth days). The competing lunar spacecraft will be equipped with high-definition video and still cameras, and will send images and data to Earth, which the public will be able to view on the Google Lunar X PRIZE website.
MOONCAST: The Mooncast consists of digital data that must be collected and transmitted to the Earth composed of the following:
• High resolution 360º panoramic photographs taken on the surface of the Moon;
• Self portraits of the rover taken on the surface of the Moon;
• Near-real time videos showing the craft’s journey along the lunar surface;
• High Definition (HD) video;
• Transmission of a cached set of data, loaded on the craft before launch (e.g. first email from the Moon).
Teams will be required to send a Mooncast detailing their arrival on the lunar surface, and a second Mooncast that provides imagery and video of their journey roaming the lunar surface. All told, the Mooncasts will represent approximately a Gigabyte of stunning content returned to the Earth.
If you have any questions about the Rules, you can read the Official Q&A here.
The complete Google Lunar X PRIZE Competition Guidelines are available in English, the official language of the prize, on the Google Lunar X PRIZE homepage.
- from http://www.challenge.mod.uk/
The Challenge for UK Innovators
Our soldiers, whether engaged in peace support roles or warfighting missions, need to be constantly aware of their surroundings and the situations in which they find themselves. In the urban environment their field of view is limited by buildings and urban clutter. How can you, as an innovator, provide them with a tactical picture, visual or otherwise, in a timescale that meets their needs?
Do you have technology or concepts that could help solve some or all of the challenges they face and could be put to practical use either now or in the near future?
Any equipment needs to add real value to a soldier’s mission. No matter how good its capabilities it won’t be useful to a soldier if it’s not accessible at the right time, too bulky or heavy to transport or carry, or too complex to use. Minimising the burden on the operator is key and it is for this reason the focus is placed on autonomous or semi-autonomous systems – the hard work is carried out by the system, not the operator – so the whole team can focus on other important combat tasks.
Therefore it is highly desirable for the Grand Challenge to produce an autonomous or semi autonomous system designed to detect, identify, monitor and report the position of a wide range of threats within a complex military urban environment, including within individual buildings.
Ultimately any system derived from the Grand Challenge needs to be usable in combat situations. Ideally, its use should not alert the enemy as to the proximity of friendly troops it should have a low visual and acoustic signature and it should either exhibit good resistance to countermeasures or be an easily replaceable consumable item.
Grand Challenge outline process and Timescale
The flow diagram below details the structure of the Grand Challenge. The exact dates and further details of each event will be announced as the Challenge progresses so watch the Latest News section for updates.
- The technical and commercial proposals for Group 1 teams will be assessed by a panel of experts and the Group 1 contracts will be awarded.
- The technical proposals for Group 2 teams will be assessed by a panel of experts and the teams will be announced.
- The progress of Group 1 teams will be monitored by a mid-year site visit.
- The progress of Group 2 teams will be monitored by a mid-year site visit.
- Both Group 1 and 2 Teams need to qualify to compete in the final event. This will test the basic functionality of the system and access if it meets the safety requirements.
- The Finale will consist of a full scale competitive physical demonstration in a representative urban environment. The systems will be assessed against the marking criteria outlined in the Rules for the Finale to establish the winner of the Grand Challenge. The final trial will be designed to be both extremely challenging technically and highly significant militarily, whilst remaining credible, exciting and, hopefully, fun.This is the deadline for submitting an application to compete in the Grand Challenge.
Copehill Down Village, as used by British Army for urban warfare training purposes, from " rules for the finale.pdf"
Location is 51º 12' 26.43" N and 1º 58' 35.45" W
- “DARPA is the central research and development (R& D) agency in the DoD and has pioneered major technology breakthroughs, such as the Internet, Stealth aircraft, smart bombs and the pilotless Predator aircraft.
- DARPA is funding several robotics technology projects and sponsored the DARPA Grand Challenges in 2004, 2005 and 2007.
- The DARPA Grand Challenge is a Congressionally mandated program that expressly authorizes DARPA to conduct contests and award prizes for advancements in vital technologies.
- In the 2001 Defense Authorization Act, Congress set a goal that one-third of operational ground combat vehicles will be unmanned by 2015.”
http://www.darpa.mil/grandchallenge/overview.asp
Date: 3rd November, 2007.
What is the Urban Challenge?
The DARPA Urban Challenge is an autonomous vehicle research and development program with the goal of developing technology that will keep warfighters off the battlefield and out of harm’s way. The Urban Challenge features autonomous ground vehicles maneuvering in a mock city environment, executing simulated military supply missions while merging into moving traffic, navigating traffic circles, negotiating busy intersections, and avoiding obstacles.
The program is conducted as a series of qualification steps leading to a competitive final event, scheduled to take place on November 3, 2007. The exact location will be announced before the National Qualification Event scheduled for October 2007. DARPA is offering $2M for the fastest qualifying vehicle, and $1M and $500,000 for second and third place.
This program is an outgrowth of two previous DARPA Grand Challenge autonomous vehicle competitions. The first Grand Challenge event was held in March 2004 and featured a 142-mile desert course. Fifteen autonomous ground vehicles attempted the course and no vehicle finished. In the 2005 Grand Challenge, four autonomous vehicles successfully completed a 132-mile desert route under the required 10-hour limit, and DARPA awarded a $2 million prize to “Stanley” from Stanford University.
From http://www.darpa.mil/grandchallenge/docs/prize.pdf
The results
- Tartan Racing, Pittsburgh, PA (Carnegie-Mellon Team)
- Stanford Racing Team, Stanford, CA
- Victor Tango, Blacksburg, VA
See http://www.darpa.mil/grandchallenge/gallery.asp for details on the event.
Photographs of the event
Stanford Racing Team car at an intersection, with another robotic car on the main road
Tartan Racing Team car at an intersection, with chase car behind.
Tartan Racing Team car in traffic
Tartan Racing Team car passes the finishing line, first.
The Winning Tartan Racing Team from Carnegie Mellon University picking up the $ 2 million cheque. After dissapointments in the past, the leader of the Tartan Racing Team, " Red" Whittacker, was a happy chappie...
and the Team behind the winning entry...
From www.darpa.mil/grandchallenge US DoD DARPA site.
Date: 8th October, 2005.
The $ 2 million prize went to the StanfordRacing Team from Stanford University, who used an unmanned Volkswagen Taureg Diesel and a collection of roof mounted Sick LIDAR sensing systems.
Grand Challenge 2005 winning unmanned VW Taureg fromStanford Racing Team. From StanfordRacing.
$2m to the winner of the DARPA Grand Challenge 2005, 8th October 2005.
The Carnegie Mellon University“Red Team” best performing, fully autonomous, vehicle in the DARPA Grand Challenge 2004. From www.darpa.mil/grandchallenge US DoD DARPA site.
Because no team won the $ 1 million prize for the DARPA Grand Challenge 2004, the prize for the DARPA Grand Challenge 2005 was increased to $ 2 million.
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