Team Caltech, a robotics group at the California Institute of Technology, is fine-tuning "Alice"--a heavily modified 8,000-pound Ford E-350 van reinforced with armor plating. The Caltech team is banking on its technical expertise to put the robot into top seating in the race. But it's also relying on the heft of its vehicle. According to one of DARPA's road rules, if a team's robot hits another vehicle--which seems highly possible for a newbie machine driver--that team is automatically disqualified from the competition. But if a car is the victim of a collision, that car's team has 30 minutes to fix the robot and continue in the race.
"We're one of the biggest robots in the race. We think we'd be a physical victor in any crash," said Joel Burdick, professor of mechanical engineering at Caltech, and the team's co-leader.
Caltech has upped its investment in Alice this year. In 2004, it spent roughly $300,000 on the robot; in 2005, it spent $150,000. And for this year's race, the team has spent roughly $300,000 plus $100,000 in donations. These figures don't include staff salaries. It has spent roughly $700,000 on its estimated 50-person team over the last year. Its sponsors are Caltech, Applanix and Mohr Davidow Ventures.
Photo by Stefanie Olsen/CNET News.com
