Collegiate Times

The team from Virginia Tech placed third in race.

A team created by Virginia Tech placed third in the 2007 Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Urban Challenge and won $500,000 on Nov. 3.

Sponsored by the Pentagon, the DARPA Urban Challenge is an autonomous vehicle research and development program created to advance the technology and safety of unmanned military vehicles.

Team Victor Tango from Tech was composed of faculty, graduate, and undergraduate students. Last year, Tech received a $1 million grant from DARPA to develop a car they've named "Odin."

Since then, in collaboration with TORC Technologies, the team has been developing and testing the car constantly.

Practices took place throughout the New River Valley, some as close as the empty Cage parking lot on campus during the summer.

Odin, a 2005 Ford Escape hybrid, was trucked all the way to California on Oct. 19, where it then competed against 10 other cars.

On Saturday, Odin maneuvered through 60 miles of mock-city environment in front of 2,000 spectators on the decommissioned George Air Force Base in Victorville, Calif.   

"The mechanical engineering department here has an extremely good reputation in robotics and competitive events, so I would say the team was extremely confident," said Bill Carstensen, member of Team Victor Tango and head of Tech's geography department.

"On the other hand, we were working with less of a front start than some of the other schools had, and I think we did better than we really thought we would do."

Although two cars crossed the finish line before Odin, there was still speculation that Odin would come out in front due to infractions completed in the course.

However, these speculations did not come to fruition, and Odin finished in third place, one of just six cars to complete the course.

Stanford University was awarded first place and $2 million for its car "Junior," and Carnegie Mellon University was awarded second place and $1 million for its car "Boss."

"The feeling of standing among the three victors of the greatest robot race to date was one that will be hard to forget. It is a tremendous honor and a great accomplishment to have received the trophy today," read an entry in the team's online blog.

The importance of this competition lies in the development of unmanned cars to be used in the military. The practicality of unmanned cars becomes essential with dangerous missions such as minefields, where the military does not want to risk the lives of personnel.

Although DARPA has not yet announced another challenge for the coming year, considering the distinguishing placement in this year's tournament, and the fact that Tech has competed in every competition offered by DARPA thus far, it is likely Tech will again have the opportunity to prove their competence in the robotics field.