''MITRE Meteor'' Selected to Compete in Final Round of DARPA's Grand Challenge Event.MCLEAN, Va. -- A robotic ground vehicle created by a team sponsored by The MITRE Corporation (body) MITRE Corporation - A US federally funded R&D center, spun off in 1958 from the MIT Lincoln Laboratory (also an FFRDC). MITRE is a non-profit corporation chartered to do R&D in the public interest. has been selected to compete in the final round of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's (DARPA DARPA: see Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) The name given to the U.S. Advanced Research Projects Agency during the 1980s. It was later renamed back to ARPA. ) Grand Challenge, a 175-mile race across the desert designed to accelerate research and development of autonomous ground technologies that could one day be used to save lives on the battlefield. The vehicle, known as the "MITRE Meteor," is one of 23 finalists that were selected at the conclusion of an eight-day semifinal, held at the California Speedway The California Speedway is a two-mile, low-banked, D-shaped oval superspeedway in Fontana, California, similar to that of "sister track" Michigan International Speedway. It is located approximately 40 miles east of Los Angeles on the site of the former Kaiser Steel mill. at Fontana, Calif., from September 28 to October 5. Forty-three teams took part in the semifinal pursuing a series of 2.2-to-2.7-mile courses designed to resemble desert conditions. The 43 semifinalists had been chosen from among 195 original applicants through a series of qualifying activities, including in-person site visits by DARPA officials to assess the capabilities of the various robots. "We're delighted and proud that the MITRE-sponsored team has advanced to the Grand Challenge. It's provided us with an exciting opportunity to develop our robotics capability, something that will benefit our government sponsors regardless of the outcome of Saturday's event," said David H. Lehman, MITRE's Senior Vice President for Information and Technology. The final round of the DARPA Grand Challenge The DARPA Grand Challenge is a prize competition for driverless cars, sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the central research organization of the United States Department of Defense. will be held Saturday, October 8, in the Mojave Desert Mojave or Mohave Desert, c.15,000 sq mi (38,850 sq km), region of low, barren mountains and flat valleys, 2,000 to 5,000 ft (610–1,524 m) high, S Calif.; part of the Great Basin of the United States. near Primm, Nev. Finalists will traverse a designated route that features lakebeds, narrow desert roads, tight turns, and treacherous mountain passes. The team whose vehicle traverses the entire course the fastest in under ten hours will win $2 million. For more information on the MITRE Meteor, visit http://www.mitre.org/tech/meteor/. MITRE (www.mitre.org) is a not-for-profit company that provides systems engineering, research and development, and information technology support to the government. It operates federally funded research and development centers Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs) conduct research for the United States Government. They are administered in accordance with U.S Code of Federal Regulations, Title 48, Part 35, Section 35.017 by universities and corporations. for the Department of Defense, the Federal Aviation Administration Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), component of the U.S. Department of Transportation that sets standards for the air-worthiness of all civilian aircraft, inspects and licenses them, and regulates civilian and military air traffic through its air traffic control , and the Internal Revenue Service, with principal locations in Bedford, Mass., and McLean, Va. |
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