Red Whittaker to talk at Carnegie Mellon West in Silicon Valley

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

From: "James H. Morris" <james.morris () cmu edu>
Date: August 11, 2004 10:10:24 AM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Cc: eric.daimler () cmu edu
Subject: Red Whittaker to talk at Carnegie Mellon West in Silicon Valley

Thursday, 8/12, 19:00

Grand Challenge : Racing for the Future

Dr. William "Red" Whittaker
Red Team Leader
Director of the Field Robotics Center
Carnegie Mellon University

The Grand Challenge is a robotic race across 250 miles of unrehearsed 
desert in less than 10 hours for a $2 million dollar prize. Last year, 
the Red Team's Sandstorm robot with support from companies such as 
Intel, Boeing, SAIC and many others, traveled the furthest and fastest, 
while maintaining a race pace averaging 15 mph. Prior to racing, 
Sandstorm logged over 1000 miles of autonomous driving, including a 
57-mile continuous run.

The Grand Challenge surpasses previous endeavors. Never before have 
autonomous vehicles been challenged to move at such speeds, across 
unknown difficult terrain, and in proximity to other racing vehicles. 
The scientific and technical challenges are immense but the potential 
benefits are far greater. This race is bringing robotics to the fore of 
public attention, galvanizing new visions for the role of robotics in 
the world and igniting the growth of a nascent industry. Breakthroughs 
compelled by the race will forever alter the view of what is possible.

This talk will chronicle the technical and human challenges driving the 
Red Team's pursuit of the Grand Challenge. We race to catalyze 
technology, build new relationships, change the view of what's 
possible, and create new robotic applications in the world. The 
technical difficulties are enormous, but not beyond grasp.


Dr. William "Red" Whittaker leads the Red Team. He is the Fredkin 
Research Professor of Robotics at Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics 
Institute and the founder and director of the Field Robotics Center and 
the National Robotics Engineering Consortium. He has been named 
Pittsburgh's Man of the Year in Technology and honored as one of 
Science Digest's Top 100 US Innovators. His robotics endeavors have won 
numerous awards including: the Engelberger Technology Award and the 
Laurels Award for outstanding achievement from Aviation Week and Space 
Technology. He is the chief scientist of Redzone Robotics, a company 
that pioneers the development of mobile robots for hazardous work 
environments. He holds 16 patents, has advised 26 Ph.D. students, and 
is the author/co-author of over 200 publications.
www.redteamracing.org

To get to the Carnegie Mellon campus go to Moffett Field in Mountain 
View off US 101. Ask directions to Carnegie Mellon at the gate. You 
need to show the gate a driver's license or other photo id.

James H. Morris
Professor of Computer Science
Dean, Carnegie Mellon West Coast Campus
412 609-5000
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~jhm

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