Autonomous Vehicle Competition 2010 Entrants
A look at some of the competitors in SparkFun's 2010 AVC!
Like a thundering herd, they approach. With names like Lacus Incursio
Dolus, Team Rad, and Sharceye, they will travel over the horizon as if
harbingers from the future. Moving, racing, and autonomously destroying
whatever may come in their paths. What started as but a dream in the
hallowed halls of 6175 Longbow Drive is fast approaching, like an
unstoppable tidal wave of innovation and design. Yes, the 2010 Autonomous Vehicle Competition is coming...and hell is coming with it!
Sorry, I just can't help myself. When I was thinking about writing this
post, the first thing that came to my mind was that the 2010 AVC is
going to be epic. So, epic language seemed most appropriate. We've
asked our entrants to tell us a little bit about their vehicles and we
have some amazing stuff coming in.
As you've probably noticed, the AVC slots have been "Out of Stock" for quite some time. Last year, we had 20 people or so sign up for the competition, and at the very last minute, several people had to drop out and we were left with only 12. To try to thwart that happening again, this year we've allowed "backorders." We sold 25 spots for the AVC and have about 10 people as alternates. If you want to be an alternate, feel free to buy a spot (you won't pay if you aren't chosen to fill in for someone). And of course, everyone is welcome to come and watch!
Check out some of the entrants so far (some of these are in, some are on the waitlist):
Team Name or Engineer: Team LID (Lacus Incursio Dolus)
Vehicle Type: Land, wheeled
Weight: Approximately 5 pounds
Interesting Fact: Team Lacus Incursio Dolus (translates to "lake collision painfully") is composed of Alex and Alex - two high school students from the Bronx.
Team Name or Engineer: Autonomous Tools
Vehicle Type: Land, wheeled
Weight: Approximately 595 pounds (!!!!!!)
Interesting Fact: Automous Tools' vehicle is HUGE! Tipping the scales at nearly 600 pounds, the vehicle has a max speed of 15 mph.
Jim's actual vehicle.
Team Name or Engineer: Jim
Vehicle Type: Land, wheeled
Weight: Approximately 5-6 pounds
Interesting Fact: Also, considered using a Cat/Robot Hybrid.
Team Name or Engineer: Brian
Vehicle Type: Land, wheeled
Weight: Approximately 30 pounds
Interesting Fact: Electronics are specially encased to survive crashes into the pond.
Team Name or Engineer: SWOSUME, Brian
Vehicle Type: Land, wheeled
Weight: Approximately 50-75 pounds
Interesting Fact: Return entrant from last year, SWOSUME won the kill switch award.
Team Name or Engineer: Doug
Vehicle Type: Airplane
Weight: Undetermined
Interesting Fact: Requested a large bowl on M&M's for the event. Will Doug be doing an impressive landing into said bowl of candy or is he simply hungry? Only time will tell.
Team Name or Engineer: Peter
Vehicle Type: Land, wheeled
Weight: Approximately 2 pounds
Interesting Fact: One of the few vehicles with only two wheels.
Bouncing off bumpers is large and in charge.
Team Name or Engineer: BOB (Bouncing off Bumpers) - Maurice and Joshua
Vehicle Type: Land, wheeled
Weight: Approximately 50 pounds
Interesting Fact: Maurice and Joshua are a grandfather/grandson duo!
Team Name or Engineer: Sharcbots
Vehicle Type: Land, wheeled
Weight: Approximately 40 pounds
Interesting Fact: Kurt's vehicle is based around an electric wheelchair platform.
Landon's vehicle makes a quick pit stop.
Team Name or Engineer: Landon
Vehicle Type: Land, wheeled
Weight: Approximately 2 pounds
Interesting Fact: Landon and his daughter Chauncey star in one of the SparkFun ads.
Team Name or Engineer: Hell Hound Engineering
Vehicle Type: Land, wheeled
Weight: Approximately 5 pounds
Team Name or Engineer: Matt
Vehicle Type: Land
Weight: Approximately 10-15 pounds
Interesting Fact: Matt's robot is a "walker" bot.
Team Name or Engineer: flakEE
Vehicle Type: Land, wheeled
Weight: Undetermined
Interesting Fact: Uses a Nokia cell phone in the design.
Team Name or Engineer: Project 240, Autodrift
Vehicle Type: Land, wheeled
Weight: Approximately 3.5 pounds
Interesting Fact: Will use the help of a telemetry base station.
Team Name or Engineer: Scott
Vehicle Type: Land, wheeled
Weight: Approximately 2 pounds
Interesting Fact: Based on the classic Grasshopper RC car.
It's going to be a great day of winners, losers, and some wet robots. Be sure to set April 17th aside and we'll see you here!
