Interesing...2nd annual DARPA desert challenge for unmanned vehicles is coming, and a team using an Xterra as their robotic vehicle was the 1st to pass the qualifier:
CNN news

Photos of the Team Mojavaton XTERRA:
4x4 Parts.com Sponsor Page

Pffffffffft! They left the step rails on.

Loooooosers . . .

Pretty cool.

I know a guy on the CMU team which uses a Hummer.

OOOOO OO OOOOO I wanna go fer a ride!!! Maybe I can make it bump the step rails off.

Well, would ya' look at those headlights .. Looks like someone at R&D got that part right

It was cheap due to the headlights

We've GOT to contact them and get an XOC sticker on that truck!!!!!

WOW! Reading the CNN article sounds like he beat some tough runner ups. I think I'll stay behind the wheel though.
Let me know when the solar power X comes out

Hope they make it to the final's and do well.

Alpine check your pm box.

You would think it would be running sliders and skids, knowing that it might take a wrong turn and try to drive over something.

I guess those things just run in 4Hi all the time. I doubt they have the t-case "electrified" and controlled by the computer. That would be interesting though.

They'd probably do it if you paid them.

http://www.mojavaton.com/

I sent an email to Team Mojavatron asking them if they wouldn't mind stopping by here and sharing some information about their Xterra and what modifications they've made in preparation for the race.

I got a reply from the team leader, Jim Crittendon. We should hear from him after the race on Saturday.

So... if you have any questions, fire away.

my GF goes to CMU in CA. She sent me a video link of their test hummer... pretty cool.

Not really.. square headlights are so useless that they had to put that big orange light thingy on the top just so the robot could see

that and all of the other robots laughed at it for having weird square eyes and being so ugly. Also they kept calling it a Ford. Robots can be cruel but they have good taste

Race is underway right now! There's a real-time map of all the positions of the robots here!

http://www.grandchallenge.org/

Update: Team Mojavaton is still running the course, but they've only gone 23 miles in 2hr44m...which is kinda slow compared to the other bots. The bots have to avg 15-20mph to finish the course on time. Well, at least the Xterra hasn't broken down and been eliminated like a lot of the bots out there already.

They are probably going slower to conserve gas...

Elminated:
6hours 22Min on course
35 miles.

3 bots finshed.
2 still running.

Much better than last year.

I blame the square headlights.

someone took photos of the DARPA Xterra at their local dealership:

link from hardocp.com forums

i'll give you all 3 geusses what went wrong... the first two don't count:

1) Microsoft.
2) Microsoft.

and let's see
3) Microsoft.

1) Square headlights
2) Automatic Transmission
3) Didn't shift into 4lo :rolleyes:

honestly why use windows if you need bulletproof.

also why the low end notebook? seems a toughbook or similar durable notebook would make a bit of sense here

Personally, unless they were going 100% custom software, the best nav software runs under Windows.

I just saw this one on the road this morning.



It was still dirty and all...Pretty neat. And, yeah...driven by a person... :p