Skip to main content

Odin: Team VictorTango’s Entry in the DARPA Urban Challenge

  • Chapter
The DARPA Urban Challenge

Abstract

The DARPA Urban Challenge required robotic vehicles to travel over 90km through an urban environment without human intervention and included situations such as stop intersections, traffic merges, parking, and road blocks. Team VictorTango separated the problem into three parts: base vehicle, perception, and planning. A Ford Escape outfitted with a custom drive-by-wire system and computers formed the basis for Odin. Perception used laser scanners, GPS, and a priori knowledge to identify obstacles, cars, and roads. Planning relied on a hybrid deliberative/reactive architecture to analyze the situation, select the appropriate behavior, and plan a safe path. All vehicle modules communicated using the JAUS standard. The performance of these components in the Urban Challenge is discussed and successes noted. The result of VictorTango’s work was successful completion of the Urban Challenge and a third place finish.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 169.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 219.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 219.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Avila-Garcıa, O., Hafner, E., Canamero, L.: Relating Behavior Selection Architectures to Environmental Complexity. In: Proc. Seventh Intl. Conf. on Simulation of Adaptive Behavior, MIT Press, Cambridge (2002)

    Google Scholar 

  • Cacciola, S.J.: Fusion of Laser Range-Finding and Computer Vision Data for Traffic Detection by Autonomous Vehicles. Master’s Thesis. Virginia Tech., Blacksburg, VA (2007)

    Google Scholar 

  • Currier, P.N.: Development of an Automotive Ground Vehicle Platform for Autonomous Urban Operations. Master’s Thesis. Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  • Duda, R.O., Hart, P.E.: Use of the Hough Transform to Detect Lines and Curves in Pictures. Commun. ACM 15(1), 11–15 (1972)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eren, H., Fung, C.C., Evans, J.: Implementation of the Spline Method for Mobile Robot Path Control. In: Piuri, V., Savino, M. (eds.) Proceedings of the 16th IEEE Instrumentation and Measurement Technology Conference, vol. 2, pp. 739–744. IEEE, Venice (1999)

    Google Scholar 

  • Fuerstenberg, K.C., Dietmayer, K.C.J., Lages, U.: Laserscanner Innovations for Detection of Obstacles and Road. In: Proceedings of 7th International Conference on Advanced Microsystems for Automotive Applications, Berlin, Germany (2003)

    Google Scholar 

  • Fuerstenberg, K.C., Linzmeier, D.T., Dietmayer, K.C.J.: Pedestrian Recognition and Tracking of Vehicles using a Vehicle Based Multilater Laserscanner. In: Proceedings of 10th World Congress on Intelligent Transport Systems, Madrid, Spain (2003)

    Google Scholar 

  • Hart, P.E., Nilsson, N.J., Raphael, B.: A Formal Basis for the Heuristic Determination of Minimum Cost Paths. IEEE Transactions on Systems Science and Cybernetics SSC 4(2), 100–107 (1968)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hurdus, J.G.: A Portable Approach to High-Level Behavioral Programming for Complex Autonomous Robot Applications. Master’s Thesis. Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  • Kelly, A.J.: A 3D State Space Formulation of a Navigation Kalman Filter for Autonomous Vehicles. CMU Robotics Institute Technical Report CMU-RI-TR-94-19 (1994)

    Google Scholar 

  • Konolige, K., Myers, K.: The Saphira Architecture for Autonomous Mobile Robots. In: Kortenkamp, D., Bonasson, R., Murphy, R. (eds.) Artificial Intelligence and Mobile Robots. MIT Press, Cambridge (1998)

    Google Scholar 

  • Lacaze, A., Moscovitz, Y., DeClaris, N., Murphy, K. (1998). Path Planning for Autonomous Vehicles Driving Over Rough Terrain. In: Proceedings of the ISIC/CIRA/ISAS Conference. Gaithersburg, MD, September 14-17 (1998)

    Google Scholar 

  • Maes, P.: How To Do the Right Thing.Technical Report NE 43–836, AI Laboratory. MIT, Cambridge (1989)

    Google Scholar 

  • Milliken, W.F., Milliken, D.L.: Race Car Vehicle Dynamics. SAE International, Warrendale, PA (1995)

    Google Scholar 

  • Murphy, R.R.: Introduction to AI Robotics. MIT Press, Cambridge (2000)

    Google Scholar 

  • Pirjanian, P.: Multiple Objective Behavior-Based Control. Robotics and Autonomous Systems 31(1), 53–60 (2000)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pirjanian, P.: Behavior Coordination Mechanisms – State-of-the-Art. Tech Report IRIS-99-375, Institute for Robotics and Intelligent Systems, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California (1999)

    Google Scholar 

  • Rosenblatt, J.: DAMN: A Distributed Architecture for Mobile Navigation. In: AAAI Spring Symposium on Lessons Learned from Implemented Software Architectures for Physical Agents, Stanford, CA. AAAI Press, Menlo Park (1995)

    Google Scholar 

  • Russel, S., Norvig, P.: Artificial Intelligence – A Modern Approach. Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River (2003)

    Google Scholar 

  • Thrun, S., Montemerlo, M., et al.: Stanley: The robot that won the DARPA Grand Challenge: Research Articles. Journal of Field Robotics 23(9), 661–692 (2006)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Urmson, C., et al.: A Robust Approach to High-Speed Navigation for Unrehearsed Desert Terrain. Journal of Field Robotics 23(8), 467 (2006)

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2009 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Reinholtz, C. et al. (2009). Odin: Team VictorTango’s Entry in the DARPA Urban Challenge. In: Buehler, M., Iagnemma, K., Singh, S. (eds) The DARPA Urban Challenge. Springer Tracts in Advanced Robotics, vol 56. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-03991-1_4

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-03991-1_4

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-03990-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-03991-1

  • eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics