Without hands guiding its steering wheel or feet depressing its pedals, an autonomous all-terrain vehicle (ATV) ripped through the high grass across a field, bouncing over rocks and ruts, skirting trees and ditches, and avoiding lakes and steep hillsides.
The side-by-side ATV moved at speeds and over terrain that pushed the limits of off-road autonomy, forcing systems to make fast decisions with limited information. The ATV operated on the edge of what is currently possible — but that's right where the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) wants it.
A team from Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Rochester is among three participating in the first phase of DARPA's Robotic Autonomy in Complex Environments with Resiliency (RACER) program. RACER challenges teams to build and design autonomous off-road systems that can keep up with traditional military vehicles in difficult terrain. The agency hopes these vehicles may eventually navigate challenging environments better and faster than those with a person behind the wheel. The program intends to accelerate the use of autonomous vehicles in the U.S. Army, Marine Corps and special operations forces.
