A parade of robotic vehicles, part of a Pentagon competition seeking unmanned technology for the battlefield, set out on a 142-mile course from Barstow, Ca. to Primm, Nv., where the first one to make it under 10 hours would earn $1 million for its creators.

But the robots never got too far. Of the 14 robots that attempted the course, five of them flipped, brushed a wall, wandered aimlessly or locked up their brakes near the start. Sandstorm (above), a diesel-powered 1986 Humvee from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, traveled the farthest - 7.4 miles to be exact before it went off course, got caught on an obstacle and set its wheels on fire trying to free itself.

The day before the race, all the teams were busy doing last minute adjustments to their high tech vehicles. At 3:20 am the next morning, the teams got their gps waypoints marking the race course. Over 2,500 of these waypoints then had to be loaded into their onboard computers to guide the unmanned race vehicles.

(above, left) Tom Galluzzo, a student at the University of Florida works on the computer wiring inside the CIMAR team vehicle. CIMAR stands for : Center For Intelligent Machines and Robots - the team comprised of University of Florida students.

(above, right) Diego Carta, also with CIMAR adjusts the 3D navigational laser in front of his school's race entry, a modified 1993 Isuzu Trooper.

Twenty three year old Anthony Levandowski of Albany, CA told me he'd be happy if his bike went just 30 yards. His modified 125cc bike called the "Ghost Rider' still has some bugs in the computer programming.

Race morning, Anthony forgot to turn on the stabilizer motors - his bike went all of 2 feet and toppled over.

One hour before race time and Team Caltech from Pasadena, CA was still tinkering with the engine of "Bob", a modified 1996 Chevy Tahoe 4X4. They later disabled after 1 mile into the race. Meanwhile, Army officers from nearby Fort Irwin arrived at dawn in a Blackhawk helicopter to watch the race.

Race morning and many of the robots didn't make it very far. The robot from Team CajunBot of Lafayette, LA (a six wheeled all terrain vehicle) crashed into the retaining wall just after starting. It could not continue and had to be pushed off the course. Meanwhile, Team ENSCO's robot from Fall's Church, VA (an off the shelf four wheeled all terrain vehicle) tipped on it's side a quarter of a mile from the start and was out of the race.

But there were small victories to celebrate.

Aside from the team from Carnegie Mellon, most knew the chances of reaching the finish line were slim to none. The team members of the Golem Group from Santa Monica, CA were happy their truck made it as far as it did. Above, they cheer as their robotic truck Golum 1 (right) passed by after nearly 4 miles on the course. Later, they learned that their robot dropped out after 5 miles. Golem was financed with $50,000 won by team leader Richard Mason on TV's 'Jeopardy" last March.

The truck behind them was a safety vehicle armed with a kill switch that followed all the robots.

The Pentagon will offer another race in a few years so it's back to the drawing board for these teams.

< Back