MIDDLETOWN, R.I. - Robot designers from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh needed inertial guidance systems for their driverless Hummer vehicles, which will compete Oct. 8 in the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA) Grand Challenge.
The object of the Carnegie Mellon Team is to race two driverless Hummers against other teams across 175 miles of Mojave Desert terrain in 10 hours or less. The teams are using fiber-optic gyros (FOGs) from KVH Industries Inc. in Middletown, R.I.
Robotics designers consider this race to be the ultimate challenge in robotics engineering with a winner-take-all prize of $2 million. Created in response to a Congressional and Department of Defense mandate, the DARPA Grand Challenge is a field test to expedite research and development of autonomous ground vehicles to assist on the battlefield.
The KVH FOGs help stabilize and point the Carnegie Mellon vehicles’ sensors, explains Red Whittaker, team leader for Carnegie Mellon’s Robotics Institute. “Red Team chose KVH products due to a cost vs. performance equation. KVH was also chosen due to its recognized industry expertise in dynamic sensing-related projects and its long track record of providing sensing equipment to Carnegie Mellon University.”
KVH’s DSP-3000 FOGs are used on a stabilized sensor platform to sense pitch, roll, and yaw angular rates relative to the vehicle’s position. Data from the KVH FOGs is used to stabilize the vehicle’s navigation and guidance system regardless of uneven terrain and vehicle motion.
Out of an initial field of 118 teams from around the U.S. and Canada, both of the Carnegie Mellon teams are among the 40 semifinalists in the race. Now, Carnegie Mellon’s Red Team and Red Team Too are focused on the national qualifying event this month.
By the time the Grand Challenge race day arrives on Oct. 8, there will only be 20 teams left to compete for the grand prize, and only one will win.
The teams’ goal is to have two vehicles on the Grand Challenge starting line this year. Veteran racer Sandstorm is the returning Grand Challenge record-holder. It is a radically modified 1986 Humvee.
Upgrades for the 2005 season include a fresh engine, new drive-by-wire, fast computing, and a million lines of solid software. Sensors include lasers, radar, and single-camera road-following. Sandstorm has logged 2,000 autonomous miles, and it will log thousands more on the road to the Grand Challenge.
H1ghlander, a 1999 H1 HUMMER, is a rookie contender that incorporates bold new technology. H1ghlander views terrain with seven laser scanners, three cameras, and two radar sensors. Several of these are pointed and stabilized by a three-axis gimbal using KVH’s DSP-3000 fiber-optic gyros.
No prize was awarded in the inaugural 2004 Grand Challenge, as no team succeeded in completing the 142-mile course. Red Team’s Sandstorm set records for speed and distance and came out ahead of the competition, traveling 7.4 miles before getting stuck. Both the veteran Sandstorm and H1ghlander have logged thousands of autonomous test miles.
With their all-fiber design and digital signal processing (DSP), KVH’s FOGs offer reliability, accuracy, and vibration, shock, and acceleration survivability.
KVH precision FOG products are used in diverse commercial and defense-related applications requiring a high level of accuracy. For more information contact KVH online at www.kvh.com.
