[ExI] self-driving cars again

[spike]

Double apologies for even more overposting today.  I will cool it tomorrow.

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>...I had an even better idea: a robot race down Pikes Peak with an
unpowered vehicle...spike
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No, scratch that, better idea.  The hell with Pike's Peak, too far away.  We
have a perfectly adequate hill right here next to San Jose, the road up
Mount Hamilton where the Lick Observatory sits.  That is a paved road,
really winding, hairpin turns everywhere.  We have the Stanford lads right
close by, a big city where there are plenty of amateur AI programmers and
some actual professional bit-slingers.  We could get up there at the crack
of dawn on any summer day and have a really cool unpowered robot race.  I
could keep the car right here in my own garage.  If it has no motor, there
is very little risk of starting a fire in the event of a crash.

We could start with something as simple as this:

http://gokartsusa.com/azusa3557gokart.aspx

We don't need the engine, so off that comes, or just look for a frame.  With
engine, this rig is about 100 pounds, so once we get that motor off and the
sensors on, we might still be under 100 pounds.  Or, something like this
might be all you would need:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/go-kart-frame-streaker-1-seater-live-axle-go-cart-ro
lling-frame-/221067918762?pt=Go_Karts&hash=item3378acbdaa

You know if this sport catches on, it's only a matter of time before the
controls engineers try to rig a robo-bicycle to enter the game, and
remember, the first person who does it goes into the record books forever.

People risk their lives and do all manner of wacky things to get world
records, especially anything having to do with speed and danger:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rollie_Free

We could get a guy on either end with phones, temporarily close the road to
Mount Hamilton, turn it loose.

Kewall!

spike