Frequently Asked Questions
Q. What's your next project after the robot race?We are considering how to adapt a highly sophisticated vehicle that builds a 3D map of the world around it at one million points per second into something that meets an industry or consumer need. Right now we are investigating the market for rapid creation of 3D landscapes with photorealistic textures.
Q. What was that about a robot race?
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) offered one million dollars for the unmanned ground robot that won a desert race from Barstow, California, to Primm, Nevada. The race was held in March 2004 and none of the contestants traveled farther than 7.4 miles. Our team did relatively well: 5.2 miles, and the best result on a basis of "miles traveled per dollar spent."
In October 2005 the race was repeated, but the prize was two million dollars and the race was a convoluted 132-mile loop that both began and ended in Primm. We got off to a good start, passing the sixteen mile checkpoint faster than any other vehicle, but unfortunately we crashed due to computer memory failure after twenty-two miles.
The 2005 race was won by Stanley, an autonomous vehicle produced by Stanford University and Volkswagen. Because of our high speed, we were on pace to finish the race much faster than Stanley, and it is entirely possible we would have won the two million dollars if not for our memory bug. But that's the way it goes.
In 2007 DARPA held a third competition, the Urban Challenge. Participating vehicles had to handle the challenges of an urban environment including traffic, crowded intersections, and parking lots. Our trials and tribulations in this contest can be seen later this year on the Discovery Channel.
Q. Why are you doing this?
No one on his deathbed has ever looked back and said, "I wish I'd spent more time with my family, and less time building supercool high-tech robots to hurtle across the desert in a winner-takes-all race for million-dollar stakes."
Q. Aren't there easier ways to make two million dollars?
Yes. Just not cooler ways.
Q. What does Golem mean?
It means a robot, an automaton, an artificial creature. It comes from a Hebrew word meaning "unfinished." Which could be taken as a pejorative description of our robot, but really just means that a golem doesn't have a soul.
Q. The Gollum Group?
No. Gollum was a small slimy creature, as dark as darkness, except for two big round pale eyes in his thin face. A golem is a kind of robot. Totally different thing.
Q. What stopped you from finishing the 2005 Grand Challenge?
Although we had done many test runs of ten or twenty miles, we had never done a single run as long and winding as the actual race course. It turns out we had a software bug that caused us to run out of memory after mapping twenty-two miles of new terrain.
Q. What stopped you from finishing the 2004 Grand Challenge?
Shortly before the race we had to replace our throttle servo. We didn't recalibrate the new throttle servo properly, and the result was that Golem 1 wouldn't open the throttle more than slightly. We didn't notice any problem while Golem 1 was driving around on level ground, but once the race course led Golem 1 up Daggett Ridge, Golem wouldn't accelerate enough to climb a steep hillside.
Q. Where are you located?
We are located in California and mostly in southern California. Many of us are Caltech alumni. The robot is garaged in a secret location in the Los Angeles area.