Nov. 17, 2005

Princeton UniversityProspect Eleven

Prospect Eleven: Princeton University's Entry in the

2005 DARPA Grand Challenge

Thursday, November 17, 2005

Guyot Hall, Princeton University

Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society

Alain L. KornhauserTeam Leader, Prospect Eleven

Professor, Operations Research & Financial Engineering

Andrew Saxe’08 Gordon Franken’08 Scott Schiffres’06

Brendan Collins’08 Bryan Cattle’07 Rachel Blair’06

Josh Herbach’08 Anand Atreya’07 Kamil Choudhury’06

Nov. 17, 2005

Princeton UniversityProspect Eleven

The DARPA Grand ChallengeDefense Advanced Research Projects Administration

• DARPA Grand ChallengeCreated in response to a Congressional and DoD mandate, it is a field test intended to accelerate research and development in autonomous ground vehicles that will help save American lives on the battlefield.  The Grand Challenge brings together individuals and organizations from industry, the R&D community, government, the armed services, academia, students, backyard inventors, and automotive enthusiasts in the pursuit of a technological challenge.

• The First Grand Challenge:  Across the Mojave, March 2004Across the Mojave from Barstow, California to Primm, Nevada offered a $1 million prize.  From the qualifying round at the California Speedway, 15 finalists emerged to attempt the Grand Challenge.  However, the prize went unclaimed as no vehicles were able to complete the difficult desert route.

• The 2005 Grand ChallengeOctober 8, 2005 in the desert near Primm.  Prize increased to $2 million. 

Nov. 17, 2005

Princeton UniversityProspect Eleven Timeline of Events

2004 2005

Jan Jan

Feb Feb

Mar 2004 Grand Challenge Mar

Apr Announcement of 2005 GC Apr

May Decide to get involved May 1st Site Visit

Jun Hire 5 summer interns Jun Not top 40, Alternate Status

Jul Jul

Aug Aug 15 2nd Site Visit

Sep Submit Application Sep 27 National Qualifying Event

Oct Oct 8 2005 Grand Challenge

Nov Receive salvaged 05 Canyon Nov Take care of unfinished business

Dec Dec

Nov. 17, 2005

Princeton UniversityProspect Eleven

Prospect Eleven & Competition

Nov. 17, 2005

Princeton UniversityProspect Eleven

Constraints• Very little budget

• Simplicity

Guiding Principles

Objective• Enrich the academic experience of the students

Nov. 17, 2005

Princeton UniversityProspect Eleven

http://www.pcmag.com/slideshow_viewer/0,1205,l=&s=1489&a=161569&po=2,00.asp

Homemade“Unlike the fancy “drive by wire” system employed by Stanford and VW, Princeton’s students built

a homemade set of gears to drive their pickup. I could see from the electronics textbook they were using that they were learning as they went.”

Nov. 17, 2005

Princeton UniversityProspect Eleven Teamwork

Real-time Decision SystemAndrew Saxe’08

Object Detection SystemBrendan Collins’08

Mechanical SystemsGordon Franken’08

Planning SystemsJosh Herbach’08

Electronic SystemsBryan Cattle’07

Computing SystemsAnand Atreya’07

Control SystemsScott Schiffres’06

Organizational SystemsRachel Blair’06

Team LeaderAlain Kornhauser*71P03

Nov. 17, 2005

Princeton UniversityProspect Eleven

The Accomplishments:

• Invited to National Qualifying Event

• Seeded 10th for Grand Challenge

• Accomplished 10 miles of Autonomous Driving in GC

• “Completed” the 2005 & 2004 Courses during Fall Break

Some VideosWasn’t so easy, OutsideWasn’t so easy, InsideEssentially PerfectLaunch at Grand ChallengeDoing Better than Last year’s BestReturn to the Desert 1 2

Nov. 17, 2005

Princeton UniversityProspect Eleven

Lessons Learned• It is non-trivial to “Just Do It”

– You must respect Uncertainty (and plan for it)– Harmonize Accuracy– Time is your Friend

• (only know what you need to know when you need to know it)

– More is not necessarily Better– Always assume your code has bugs

• Stereo Vision Does Work• Three (3) Regimes of Autonomous Control

– Under “7” mph– Between 7- 25 mph– Above 25 mph

Nov. 17, 2005

Princeton UniversityProspect Eleven