[ExI] downscaled robocar racing

[spike at rainier66.com]

A search reveals that robocar racing has been going on for several years,
but it is under-publicized.

 

I attended the first big robocar race, the cross country event in 2004 in
the Las Vegas area, in which all the AVs either crashed or otherwise failed.
Five AVs eventually crossed the finish line, none in under 5 hours needed to
collect the million bucks:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DARPA_Grand_Challenge

 

This video was made five years ago, a Georgia Tech experiment (cool!)  They
managed to teach this rig to drift and power-slide (they claim it taught
itself to do that.)  Take a look:

 

https://youtu.be/1AR2-OHCxsQ

 

If we go with the downscaled cars, the tires can be changed with only hand
tools, so it makes it practical for hobbyists of ordinary means to play the
game.

 

I still have no idea what a Lidar system costs or if there is a cheaper way
to do guidance if it is a closed flat track like the one in the video.  It
wouldn't cost all that much to make a short dirt flat track.  I bet if a
prole were to find a place close to the Silly Clone Valley here where a
lotta single geeky engineers have more money than they know what to do with,
build a short dirt track and charge them a modest (well, ok outrageous) fee
to race on it.

 

spike

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