From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: ** X-Spam-Status: No, score=2.0 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_05,LOTS_OF_MONEY, TO_NO_BRKTS_FROM_MSSP autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,cd9e5d2534af13d4 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2003-02-13 08:06:40 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!news1.google.com!newsfeed.stanford.edu!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!out.nntp.be!propagator2-SanJose!in.nntp.be!news-in-sanjose!cyclone-sf.pbi.net!151.164.30.35!cyclone.swbell.net!bos-service1.ext.raytheon.com!dfw-service2.ext.raytheon.com.POSTED!not-for-mail Message-ID: <3E4BBBC2.62CD4042@raytheon.com> From: Jerry Petrey <"jdpetrey"@raytheon.com> X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.79 [en]C-CCK-MCD CSC;Raytheon (Windows NT 5.0; U) X-Accept-Language: en MIME-Version: 1.0 Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: Great opportunity for Ada application References: <3E4A7FDB.3C96D63A@raytheon.com> <3E4AAD59.BB77642@sympatico.ca> <58D2a.49683$zF6.3324539@bgtnsc04-news.ops.worldnet.att.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Date: Thu, 13 Feb 2003 08:37:38 -0700 NNTP-Posting-Host: 147.24.93.55 X-Complaints-To: news@ext.ray.com X-Trace: dfw-service2.ext.raytheon.com 1045150660 147.24.93.55 (Thu, 13 Feb 2003 09:37:40 CST) NNTP-Posting-Date: Thu, 13 Feb 2003 09:37:40 CST Organization: Raytheon Company Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:34057 Date: 2003-02-13T08:37:38-07:00 List-Id: "James S. Rogers" wrote (with deletions): > > Having done some Ada work on teleoperated ground vehicles I > will venture the following opinions: > ..... > > Your vehicle will probably need a reliable 4 wheel drive an > at least a 30 gallon gas tank. Your vehicle is allowed to > continuously report to you during the race. This would be > a "good idea". You cannot send it commands except for > the E-Stop (emergency stop) command, which is included > for safety reasons. Note that any repair or refuling must be > handled autonomously. This provides a challenge. Your > autonomous system may need to turn off the engine > during refuling and repairs. It will need to continue enough > capability to restart the engine at the end of the pit stop. > The vehicle must be able to sense end of pit stop without > a discrete signal being sent from a biological entity. > This means that your checkpoint must have the ability > to signal the vehicle without your direct action. Of course > it would be best if you can avoid a pit stop altogether. > > Anticipate a lot of dust, high winds, rough terrain and hot > weather for this race. > > I estimate that the materials needed to create and operate > this vehicle will cost at least $200,000.00. This cost does > not include engineering effort or manufacturing/assembly time. > > Jim Rogers Thanks for your inputs Jim, I knew you had worked on something like this for the Army in the past. I agree with your assessment in general. The course will be about half on road and half off road but will all be cleared for the race - there will be no requirement to obey traffic signals or laws other than there will be some reasonable speed limit imposed and of course the safety issue that it must sense and avoid a hazardous situation. I think avoiding the repairs/refueling is the best approach. Although the vehicle will be required to stop at the checkpoint (there could be more that one), it does not have to do anything there - I like the simple approach of it just waiting until cleared to proceed. It would be tough to pull off in a year but I would think it might be possible for a small dedicated (and well funded) team. Of course if there is no winner, it will repeated each year until there is (up until around 2007). Jerry -- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- Jerry Petrey -- Senior Principal Systems Engineer - Navigation (GPS/INS), Guidance, & Control -- Raytheon Missile Systems - Member Team Ada & Team Forth -- NOTE: please remove in email address to reply ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------