GM FYI Blog: DARPA: Making Robots Meaningful

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DARPA: Making Robots Meaningful

By Larry Burns
Vice President, Research & Development and Strategic Planning

When I was growing up, a lot of young people, including me, were fascinated with Isaac Asimov’s robot books and the idea that robots could become a part of everyday life.

As time has gone by, the field of robotics has been developing largely unnoticed. While many of us have been focused on other major events in our lives – college, marriage, family and work – robots have been quietly making inroads into the world we inhabit.

Today, we even have robot vacuum cleaners and robot dogs. And, while these things are fascinating, they are unlikely to impact our lives in any significant way.

Yet right now, a competition is taking place in California that promises to make robots meaningful and pushes us closer to the world of robotics we imagined as youngsters. Sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the Urban Challenge involves college and university teams from all over the world competing to demonstrate the capabilities of their own unique robots, or, in the words of the official challenge, “autonomous ground vehicles conducting simulated military supply missions in a mock urban area.”

What this means is that the vehicles in this competition are driverless; they have essentially been turned into robots. During the competition, they must navigate a 60-mile course under simulated traffic conditions without intervention from human operators. They must be able to negotiate busy intersections, obey traffic signals, and deal with merging traffic and obstacles on the roadway – autonomously.

GM is proud to be partnering with one of the teams in the Urban Challenge – the Carnegie Mellon University Tartan Racing Team. This team has transformed a Chevrolet Tahoe into a robot named “Boss” after GM research founder Charles F. (“Boss”) Kettering. Boss is an automated driving machine equipped with radars, lasers and cameras for driving assessment and computer software to replace the human driver.

The implications of the development of robots like this are staggering. From increased safety to the alleviation of traffic congestion to the potential for self-driving vehicles on public roads, the possibilities are endless. GM sees competitions like the DARPA Urban Challenge as moving us closer to fulfilling our vision to build the automobile of the future – vehicles that address the challenges we face every day and that are sustainable in terms of energy, the environment, safety, and congestion.

The things we learn from the DARPA Urban Challenge are far more valuable than the prize itself. And we hope that the advances we make because of it will inspire young people who are growing up today imagining the future.

Posted by Editor on October 29, 2007 9:48 AM