Posts tagged darpa urban challenge
TORC on Display at the Robotics Summit Virtual Conference
BLACKSBURG, Va. (June 14, 2010) – TORC, a leading provider of robotic systems for autonomous vehicles, will be exhibiting at the Robotics Summit Virtual Conference on June 16. TORC’s exhibit focuses on its Robotic Building Block products and the ByWire XGV, which provides an integration-ready, drive-by-wire controlled ground robotics platform with tightly integrated safety and onboard power management systems. Driven by real-world applications and experiences such as the DARPA Urban Challenge, the design of the ByWire XGV focuses on reliability, safety, cost-effectiveness, and performance.
The Robotics Summit Virtual Conference is a unique, online event that brings together industry leaders for a full day of keynote presentations, online discussions, networking and a virtual exhibit hall where companies showcase their latest robotic technologies.
Be sure to visit the TORC exhibit and participate in a brief survey for your chance to win a free FLIP camcorder. If you are not already registered for the event, attendance is free at bit.ly/roboticsevent.
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TORC Provides Unmanned Industry with Integration-Ready Robotic Ground Vehicle
ByWire XGV™ Experimental Ground Vehicle Platform Provides Jump Start for Autonomous Research and Development
BLACKSBURG, VA (Dec. 4, 2009) – TORC Technologies, a leading developer of robotic technologies for unmanned and autonomous vehicles, is offering unmanned systems researchers, developers and integrators in the ground vehicle market a faster way to develop and test new technologies.
TORC’s ByWire XGV™ is a JAUS interoperable, drive-by-wire controlled ground vehicle platform which utilizes the Ford Escape Hybrid as the base vehicle. The XGV comes with built-in safety components and an optional onboard power management system. This off-the-shelf, integration-ready platform has been purchased by various universities and robotics companies to have on hand for rapid integration and testing of their autonomous technologies. The platform design is based on TORC’s success as a finalist in the DARPA Urban Challenge and has been proven during thousands of hours of development, testing and operation.
ByWire XGV makes it possible to bypass the drive-by-wire conversion and jump right into the integration phase of more advanced unmanned technologies. By allowing engineering teams to remain focused on higher level technology development, the XGV eliminates the need to spend time, money and resource commitments reinventing an already proven system.
“To develop the next level of unmanned ground vehicle technologies, researchers need a reliable, cost-effective drive-by-wire platform from which they can build upon,” says Andrew Culhane, TORC’s Business Development Manager. “In the full-sized unmanned ground vehicle market this is especially important since large amounts of time and money can be sunk into developing an in-house solution that may be pulling resources away from working on the core technology under development.
“The ByWire XGV is a direct solution to the ‘base platform problem’ experienced by so many in the unmanned systems community. As a rapid go-to-market platform with a great deal of flexibility in its application, the XGV is ready to integrate higher level technologies.”
ByWire XGV focuses on reliability, safety, cost-effectiveness and performance. The conversion package includes three core areas: drive-by-wire (ability for a computer to perform both closed-loop and open-loop control of the vehicle), safety (a fail-safe emergency stop system) and power (set of flexible options for supplying power to any auxiliary equipment).
ByWire XGV utilizes the hybrid Escape’s proven vehicle technologies, tapping into electronic controls, available battery power, and all wheel drive for on-road/off-road ruggedness and flexibility of application. Controlled through a unified Ethernet interface, the drive-by-wire conversion is seamlessly integrated with the vehicle’s factory electronics, providing electronic control of the steering, throttle, shifter, braking and signals. In addition, information such as vehicle speed, warnings and errors can be monitored.
The XGV includes an integrated SafeStop™, TORC’s wireless emergency stop system, providing temporary pause and emergency shutdown functionality. Manual stop buttons are mounted inside and outside of the vehicle for additional safety. A key benefit of the XGV is the availability of onboard DC and AC power, eliminating the need for adding additional power sources to the system. The optional PowerHub™ conditioning and distribution modules allow for use of up to 6 kW of managed power, which is configurable over Ethernet through a web browser.
“The demand for unmanned ground vehicles capable of removing humans from the dull, dirty, and dangerous jobs of the world continually increases as the effectiveness of unmanned systems improve,” Culhane says. “To meet this growing demand, research and development efforts have increased to build up critical technology.”
Examples of such critical areas include sensor range and effectiveness, motion planning techniques in dynamic and unpredictable environments, behavioral architectures, and unobtrusive yet powerful human-computer interfaces. Other important challenges facing unmanned system developers include lowering cost while improving reliability and robustness.
“Achieving all these goals is necessary to boost adoption rates of unmanned vehicles by government and commercial markets,” Culhane says. “Too often these goals are not achieved, however, due to the unavailability of a reliable, cost-effective, and flexible base platform. Too much time and money is put into solving a problem that is not associated with the actual technology under development. The XGV meets this need for the unmanned ground vehicle community.”
To learn more about ByWireXGV, including video demonstrations, please visit www.ByWireXGV.com.
ABOUT TORC TECHNOLOGIES
TORC is a leading robotics engineering and product development company focusing on unmanned and autonomous vehicle systems. The company commercializes intelligent robotic technologies into modular, interoperable, off-the-shelf products that enable customers to rapidly integrate and deploy unmanned solutions. To learn more, visit www.torctech.com.
TORC Recently Featured on Discovery News
TORC recently had the pleasure to welcome Discovery News video producer, Jorge Ribas, to a Team Victor Tango cookout a few weeks ago. Jorge was shooting an online segment for the Discovery Channel titled “Is it Future Yet?” with a focus on robotic cars.
The piece was recently a featured segment on the Discovery.com homepage and was also a feature story on their new Tech site. Check it out below!
TORC Applying Autonomous Vehicle Technologies to the Mining and Construction Industries
TORC is working with Caterpillar Inc. to research the application of advanced autonomous vehicle technologies for future applications in mining and construction.
Blacksburg, VA – June 12, 2008 – TORC Technologies (www.torctech.com) is researching the application of advanced autonomous vehicle technologies with Caterpillar Inc. for future applications in mining and construction. Autonomous technologies have great potential to increase productivity and efficiency in both the mining and construction industries.
As a member of Team VictorTango, TORC was the lead software developer for “Odin,” the fully autonomous Ford Escape Hybrid that finished third in the 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge, navigating approximately 60 miles of urban traffic situations in just under four and half hours. TORC is commercializing similar autonomous packages for use in different industry applications. At this time, TORC is performing research activities with Caterpillar Inc. on applying the autonomous vehicle technologies proven successful in the DARPA Urban Challenge.
Building on the success and support Caterpillar provided to team VictorTango’s entry in the DARPA Urban Challenge, TORC and Caterpillar research team are collaborating to transfer autonomous vehicle technologies to Caterpillar’s future applications in mining and construction.
About TORC Technologies
TORC Technologies is automating dull, dirty, and dangerous tasks by commercializing intelligent robotic technologies into interoperable off-the-shelf products, providing the essential building blocks for rapidly enabling autonomy on virtually any platform. The TORC product line offers an integrated set of functionalities necessary for implementing varying levels of autonomous operation. From teleoperation to autonomy, the modular solutions from TORC can increase your speed to market while reducing risks and development costs.
Media Contact:
David Cutter, Marketing Manager
cutter@torctech.com
TORC Technologies, LLC
540-443-9262 x 4256
TORC & Virginia Tech Finish 3rd in 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge
On November 3rd, 2007, Team VictorTango’s race vehicle Odin, successfully completed the 60 mile DARPA Urban Challenge. Originally slated for the second pole position, Odin was first out of the gates at 8:04 am. Odin ramped up his speed to 25 miles per hour while rounding the traffic circle and disappeared into the morning mist of the California desert. Four hours and thirty six minutes later, Odin returned safely, 26 minutes behind the winner. During the race, Odin encountered four-way intersections, where he yielded to manned and unmanned traffic. Odin merged onto busy city streets avoiding traffic drivers trying to confuse him and other robots that often forgot to follow California highway rules.
At times, the DARPA provided mission file sent him to areas where he was called him to park in a specific parking place, demonstrating a simulated military re-supply mission. In the end, Odin’s courteous and calculated nature helped to hold off any fender benders. After a long day in traffic, Odin and Team VictorTango were awarded 3rd place in the competition. As one of only three robots to finish under the DARPA imposed time limit, Odin’s journey was fraught with peril. Many of the competitors were pulled from the course due to collisions with other robots and buildings. The completion of the course marks a huge success for TORC Technologies (TORC) and Virginia Tech Unmanned Systems, which allowed them to display the incredible advances that have been made in autonomous vehicle technology. The success in the challenge was the crowning achievement of thousands of hours of research and development spent in the lab, in the simulator, and on the road.
Odin, the competition vehicle, was based on a Ford Escape Hybrid donated by Ford Motor Company. TORC served as lead software architect and developer for the team. The modular software architecture utilized the SAE AS-4 JAUS (Joint Architecture for Unmanned Systems) standard for inter-process communication. JAUS promoted interoperability between systems and increased the efficiency of system development, testing, data logging, and playback. Using a simulation environment tailored for urban ground vehicle navigation, TORC was able to develop and debug software, safely test autonomous behaviors and verify interactions with sensors and the environment. Prior to the Urban Challenge Race, Team VictorTango had navigated similar courses and environments thousands of times in the simulator. This approach significantly improved overall robustness of the software. New behaviors and algorithms were proven well before they hit the street with real vehicles and live drivers.
Due to the inherent need for improved safety in unmanned grounds systems and the specialized needs of large vehicles preparing for the DARPA Urban Challenge, TORC developed the SafeStop™ Wireless Emergency Stop System. The SafeStop™ was utilized by several teams during site visit and qualification. Based on technology inspired by efforts on the Urban Challenge, TORC also commercialized several JAUS-interoperable products such as the ByWire™ Drive-by-Wire Conversion Module, AutonoNav™ Autonomous Navigation Controller, and InterOp™ Collaborative Online JAUS Integration Environment. These products serve to provide vehicle-independent, JAUS-interoperable, autonomous solutions. The combination of these TORC products allows for complete autonomous vehicle solutions, autonomy and safety, as well as simulated environment to develop and evaluate algorithms.
TORC Technologies, LLC is an applied research company focusing on improving our quality of life by automating dull, dirty, and dangerous work through modular and interoperable robotic technologies. TORC employs mechanical, electrical, and software engineers and provides turn-key robotic solutions to system integrators. TORC is located in the Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center in Blacksburg, Virginia.