2005 Journal of Field Robotics Special Issue on the DARPA Grand Challenge MITRE Meteor: An Off-Road Autonomous Vehicle for DARPA’s Grand Challenge Robert Grabowski, Richard Weatherly, Robert Bolling, David Seidel, Michael Shadid, and Ann Jones. The MITRE Corporation 7525 Colshire Drive McLean VA, 22102
[email protected] Abstract The MITRE Meteor team fielded an autonomous vehicle that competed in DARPA’s 2005 Grand Challenge race. This paper describes the team’s approach to building its robotic vehicle, the vehicle and components that let the vehicle see and act, and the computer software that made the vehicle autonomous. It presents how the team prepared for the race and how their vehicle performed. 1 Introduction In 2004, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) challenged developers of autonomous ground vehicles to build machines that could complete a 132-mile, off-road course. Figure 1: The MITRE Meteor starting the finals of the 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge. 2005 Journal of Field Robotics Special Issue on the DARPA Grand Challenge 195 teams applied – only 23 qualified to compete. Qualification included demonstrations to DARPA and a ten-day National Qualifying Event (NQE) in California. The race took place on October 8 and 9, 2005 in the Mojave Desert over a course containing gravel roads, dirt paths, switchbacks, open desert, dry lakebeds, mountain passes, and tunnels. The MITRE Corporation decided to compete in the Grand Challenge in September 2004 by sponsoring the Meteor team. They believed that MITRE’s work programs and military sponsors would benefit from an understanding of the technologies that contribute to the DARPA Grand Challenge.