Joystick up. The car drives forward.
Joystick right. The car drives right.
Joystick held to the right continuously. The car drives in circles.
Fast, brightly colored cars with racing stripes and sponsorship stickers are driven by Playstation 2 controllers all the time, usually in front of a television screen. But the Insight Racing team can use the same controller to drive a 1987 Chevrolet Suburban — and that is just the beginning.
“When we had the Suburban it took time to get the wireless computers working, so we had it connected to a Playstation 2 controller,” Mike Randall, a N.C. State alumnus in computer science and member of the Insight Racing team, said. “That was really popular — like a big video game.”
The Insight team is composed of students, alumni, faculty and with industries, such as Comtrol and Ascot Technologies, Inc., to create autonomous vehicles.
“This is a great collaboration effort between industry and academia, demonstrating the pursuit of applications of new technologies,” Simon Cobb, the director of product planning for Lotus Engineering, Inc., said.
The team created their first autonomous vehicle, the Suburban named Desert Rat, for the 2005 Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Grand Challenge in Nevada.
The challenge consisted of a completely autonomous vehicle traveling 131.2 miles across the Nevada desert at a “militarily relevant speed,” according to the DARPA news release on October 8, 2005.
Only five of the 23 finalist teams completed the course. Insight Racing finished 12th, its Suburban traveled 26 miles.
The Suburban was the old, cheap car that could. While many of the top teams had cars with an estimated net worth of millions, according to Randall, the Insight Racing team completed its autonomous vehicle for around $55,000.
“All these other teams had so much money behind them, and the students had to develop all their own technologies,” Tara Britt, director of administration and external relations for the electrical engineering department, said.
The lack of technology available for a 1987 Suburban did challenge the Insight team to come up with creative solutions. While newer vehicles had upgrades and systems adaptable to new technologies, the old Suburban had to develop ways to control the gas pedal, brakes and steering.
Money and sponsorship plays an important role for the future of the Insight team, especially as the challenges continue to increase in difficulty.
“Last time it was all off-road and through the desert, there weren’t any planned obstacles. It was can you drive the 130 miles,” Randall said. “This time it is a much more dynamic environment. There will be moving vehicles, stop signs and right-of-ways.”
At the next challenge on Nov. 3, 2007, for a vehicle to complete the course it must autonomously obey traffic laws while merging into moving traffic, navigating traffic circles, negotiating busy intersections and avoiding obstacles, according to the DARPA news release on May 1, 2006.
The information for the challenge will be given to the teams on a USB port before they begin. The team downloads the information onto the computer, and then sets the car off on its own.
“In the past there was only one mission, but this year there are multiple missions,” Randall said.
The new challenge has led the team to ditch the Suburban for a sleeker car to navigate city streets. A car that is going to blow people’s socks off, according to Britt.
“It is a big change from the 1987 Suburban,” Randall said laughing.
The new, donated car will be presented at an unveiling ceremony tomorrow at 11 a.m. in front of Engineering Building II on Centennial Campus. Cobb is going to give a keynote address, and other models of the car will be available for some test driving, according to Britt.
The event is an effort to excite students about the possibilities an education in engineering can offer.
“We want everybody to support this,” Britt said. “Most people have no idea what cool things engineers can do.”
Grayson Randall, the team leader of Insight Racing and a senior software design engineer at IBM, acknowledged the challenge as one of the many interesting problems that can be solved by engineering.
“The Grand Challenge is an outstanding program for exploring the future, making a difference in the lives of the students, making a difference in the lives of military personnel and making a difference in how we all drive in the future,” he said.
The DARPA challenge is an effort to help the military discover technologies to reach the congressional mandate that one-third of all military vehicles must be autonomous by 2015, according to Mike Randall.
The Insight team offers a project that uses all types of engineering, design and business elements to create opportunities for students in different disciplines.
“When people think engineering it sounds too bland, but when you sit down and planes are flying themselves and cars are driving themselves — that is exciting,” Mike Randall said.