Well, January has officially come and gone and with the current temperature hovering around -10° F (that's -23° C for everyone else in the world) it's hard to imagine spring-time being just around the corner. But it is, right?
Of course, we all know what spring brings with it. No, not April showers and May flowers - but the gnarliest, most awesome autonomous vehicle competition this side of the DARPA Challenge (perhaps a bit an exaggeration, but you get the point). What am I blathering about? Well, I'm talking about the 2011 SparkFun Autonomous Vehicle Competition of course!
Coming in just a few short months (April 23rd, 2011), the 2011 SparkFun AVC is the third rendition of our very-own autonomous vehicle competition where unmanned aerial and ground vehicles attempt to navigate the perimeter of SparkFun HQ. Now is the time to sign up and start working on your design! We've seen some pretty cool things in the past, like an electric wheelchair turned into an AV (see picture above) and a 6-wheeled cooler that could crawl over curbs.
If you want to compete, go here to sign up. Also, don't forget that we welcome spectators! If you are interested in attending (but maybe don't have the time to work on a vehicle right now), please register as a spectator at our EventBrite page. It only takes a moment, tickets are free, and it'll help us figure out the logistics of the whole thing (like how many delicious food vendors we need). Hope to see everyone out there on April 23rd!
Hey I can't go to the AVC but I would love to be able to watch. Is there any way you guys could broadcast a live feed of it and put it on SFE the day of the race?
You could do something like the Arduino Christmas tree web cam a while back. I'm not talking 1080p but just something simple so the rest of us that can't go feel included? =P
I can't make it to Colorado unfortunately. Anyone ever try to automate a real car as an entry? It might not fit through the 3' ring, but it might certainly "crush" the competition! (hopefully not spectators)
If I remember from past AVC, Nate and competitors walk around the building with their bots to make sure they don't go into the smelly pond or whatever.
Here's an idea for anyone that wants to take it.
1. Built vehicle with camera.
2. Have a camera and no GPS on the vehicle.
3. Put some sort of target sign on Nate and have the vehicle follow him.
4. ???
5. PROFIT!
BTW, why is there a bullet point list, but no numbered list in the formatting? Seriously.
In Markdown, just do
1. first item
3. second item
2. third item
...with literal numerals like "1. first item", and you'll get an ordered list.
It doesn't support the )? How sad...
would emitting an EMP burst to disable all other vehicles be against the rules? ;)
I'm assuming you're joking, but just in case...yes, that would be against the rules!
just joking!!!
Nuke them from orbit, that's the only way to be sure.
I LOL'd
I wonder how boarder security is going to react when I say "Oh, that... Yeah it's an unmanned aerial vehicle, with a gps, two way telemetry, cameras and a flight recorder."
You could always just fly it over the border...
I would be in soooo much trouble lol...
my father was the guy at the kill switch (in case anything went wrong) in the 2006 Darpa grand challenge
w00t!
I have to take off my employee hat for a minute and show some excitement. Can't wait for this year's AVC! Having seen some of the in-progress rigs by folks here in the building I know SparkFun will do well representing itself. Seeing some of the entrants start to pile up I know we'll also have some excellent competitors.
I'm excited to see where/how we set up the massive pit area since now we've overtaken the whole building. I'm excited to see the line-up of food vendors and the stands and the scoreboard all laid out for hundreds of spectators. I'm excited to set up all the swivel-cams around the campus to capture the action from crazy angles. And I'm excited to go afterparty it up at the Dark Horse after a full day of races!
The AVC is by far my favorite SparkFun event. It gets bigger and crazier every year! It's like fast-paced robot Christmas in April!
/re-affixes employee hat
just don't forget the sound this time, many people were missing alot without sound at the antimov!
I'm really excited for our entry, to say the least. It's certainly raised eyebrows around the office! :)
Pics or it doesn't exist.
Having briefly ridden your contraption it certainly raised my eyebrows along with the rest of me by the height of the rig.
With the amount of power you guys have a time bonus in exchange for opting to tow some dead weight would be a snap for that beast. (no such rule exists and I don't make the rules, of course)
Could we have an International on-line AVC with a set course and post videos/ pictures and our times?
-Just an idea