OFF IN THE DESERT UNMANNED VEHICLES VIE FOR PENTAGON'S $1 MILLION PRIZE.

Byline: Dana Bartholomew Staff Writer

FONTANA - Rascal the robot car pointed down the California Speedway on Thursday, its engine rumbling, its roof lights blinking like a waiting jet. There was no driver. No passengers. No radio controls.

Only the starting gate - and the prayers of two dozen engineers and computer nerds from Rockwell Scientific Co. of Thousand Oaks hoping to qualify for a 200-mile race across the Mojave Desert on Saturday.

And to win $1 million in a checkered-flag finish.

``This is the last chance,'' declared Reinhold Behringer, president of SciAutonics LLC, gazing at Rascal and the obstacle course that had so far stumped the self-navigating all-terrain vehicle in seven attempts.

``I'm not panicked. So many things can go wrong. You need to have a cool head.''

So far, the robot whizzes at SciAutonics had been more than cool. This week, a second SciAutonics race team from Israel had launched its unmanned Avidor, one of the first unmanned vehicles to figure out how to navigate bricks, metal rods and parked cars on the mile-long track.

The SciAutonics II team car was also one of seven out of 21 entries this week to complete the Fontana speedway course and likely qualify for Saturday's DARPA Grand Challenge - a rugged course from Barstow to Primm, Nev., in less than 10 hours.

The race, hosted by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which put up the $1 million prize, is intended to inspire a new generation of military combat vehicles. If no one takes bragging rights this time around, another race will likely be held as soon as 2006.

The rules: All entries must drive themselves, refuel their own tanks and chart their own course through the harsh Mojave Desert.

Under blazing sun near the snow-covered peaks of the San Bernardino Mountains on Thursday, three more entries - including a Jeep Cherokee from Axion Racing of Westlake Village - managed to brave the qualifying track.

``It's exciting,'' said Behringer, a 40-year-old native of Bavaria, Germany, and a senior computer scientist at Rockwell Scientific in Thousand Oaks. ``To develop an autonomous system that drives by itself - they don't exist yet.''

The SciAutonics Rascal, powered by a 600 cc motorcycle engine, has a complex computer navigation system directed by four laser range-finding sensors that reflect the surrounding terrain. It cost $160,000 in materials and an estimated $800,000 in volunteer labor.

The Grand Challenge entries looked like a field of ``Mad Max'' machines.

There was Bob, a wire-stuffed Chevy Tahoe from the California Institute of Techology. There was Doom Buggy, a 256-horsepower Acura from Palos Verdes High School. And there was Cajunbot, which looked like a six-wheel hot dog stand, built by students at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.

``We haven't slept, we haven't eaten, we've only been working on this project 90 days,'' said Scott Wilson, 36, of the University of Louisiana.

And there was Avidor, a product of the Elbit Systems Ltd. of Israel, driving under the SciAutonics banner. On Wednesday, Avidor skirted around the track in 6 minutes, 45 seconds, a qualifying record.

``This is the vehicle that's going to win,'' said Israeli Army Brig. Gen. (res.) Nachman Levinger, platform programs manager for Elbit, who develops unmanned vehicles for Israel.

Rascal, unfortunately, proved to be the little rascal of the team.

On its last and final try, it puttered a few feet and stopped.

``We intend to come back,'' Behringer said. ``It's there - we want to get the million dollars in 2006.''

Dana Bartholomew, [phone]

dana.bartholomew(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

photo

Photo:

Thousand Oaks' SciAutonics II team vehicle Rascal drives a short distance, then stops, during the Grand Challenge qualifier. It won't make it this year, but the unmanned vehicle's creators hope to collect the top 2006 prize.

John Lazar/Staff Photographer