The
University
of Detroit Mercy beat out all challengers in the recent
Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition at
Oakland University.
The university's team designed and built smart cars capable
of driving themselves without human guidance. The competition presented a
number of challenges for the cars, such as navigating obstacle courses without
human guidance. The students put together complex computer programming and
robotics to make it happen.
The Titans beat out 46 other teams from 40 other schools
from around the world. Among the competitors were teams from big-name
universities, such as Princeton, Cornell and University of Wisconsin
Madison.
"This win not only reflects the hard work and
competitiveness of our team but it confirms the wisdom of our faculty in
developing an innovative curriculum that employs autonomous vehicles as a
vertically integrative platform," says Leo Hanifin, dean of engineering
and science at UDM.
The idea behind the competition is to promote the
development of automated and intelligent vehicles that can have both civilian
and military applications. A number of big name institutions are interested in
this type of technological development to sponsor it. That list includes
Microsoft, General Motors, the Department of Defense, the Air Force Research
Laboratory and the U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research Development and Engineering Center.
Source: University
of Detroit Mercy
Writer: Jon Zemke
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