We've written about the DARPA Grand Challenge in this space before. It's a contest sponsored by the U.S. military's research wing that pits teams of engineers against one another to see who can build the most sophisticated autonomous automobile. Last year, a team from Stanford University won the two-year-old competition with a robotic Volkswagen Touareg named Stanley that was able to self-navigate a 131-mile circuit of treacherous terrain in the Nevada desert ahead of the field. Their reward for this spectacular feat: US $2 million in cold cash—and a trophy. Now, comes a report that says the winner of the 2006 Grand Challenge, which will put the robotic contestants through their paces on a course simulating urban traffic, may have to be content with winning just the trophy. Apparently, the sponsor has concluded that it is out of the money when it comes to awarding prizes.
The snafu seems to be the interpretation of new legislation passed by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Bush earlier this year. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) interprets language in the current defense spending authorization to mean that it can not hand out the $2.7 million in prize money it had intended to present to the new winners next month. There does seem to be some confusion on the part of the military over whether there will be a cash prize or not, however. This uncertainty, though, has already caused some potential contestants to drop out of the race before it's even started.
According to an Associated Press report today, the current law gives the authority for the Defense Department to award cash prizes to the Director of Defense Engineering and Research, who oversees DARPA's work. The managers at DARPA believe that this specific authorization essentially precludes it from granting prize money to contest winners. But some in Congress say that the change in the law merely expands the authority to other defense agencies and that DARPA can still give out cash prizes as long as it works with its overseer.
A Pentagon spokesperson said that the agencies are still working out the details in the case of the next Grand Challenge. "We are not aware of a decision to not award cash prizes," Lt. Col. Brian Maka said in a statement. So there still may be time for the military to cut through enough red tape in order to restore the prize money for the upcoming competition.
Either way, a great many of the competitors will show up, out of pride of accomplishment. One of the top finishers in last year's race and a heavy favorite in this year's, William "Red" Whittaker of Carnegie Mellon University, told the AP: "No one is dreaming of big bank accounts or struck by lottery fever. People are out there to innovate."
That's really the winning spirit—whether or not the government ever agrees on just who gets to hold out the giant cardboard check to the innovators who come in first place.
A CONTEST WITHOUT A PRIZE?
We've written about the DARPA Grand Challenge in this space before. It's a contest sponsored by the U.S. military's research wing that pits teams of engineers against one another to see who can build the most sophisticated autonomous automobile. Last year, a team from Stanford University won the two-year-old competition with a robotic Volkswagen Touareg named Stanley that was able to self-navigate a 131-mile circuit of treacherous terrain in the Nevada desert ahead of the field. Their reward for this spectacular feat: US $2 million in cold cash—and a trophy. Now, comes a report that says the winner of the 2006 Grand Challenge, which will put the robotic contestants through their paces on a course simulating urban traffic, may have to be content with winning just the trophy. Apparently, the sponsor has concluded that it is out of the money when it comes to awarding prizes.
The snafu seems to be the interpretation of new legislation passed by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Bush earlier this year. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) interprets language in the current defense spending authorization to mean that it can not hand out the $2.7 million in prize money it had intended to present to the new winners next month. There does seem to be some confusion on the part of the military over whether there will be a cash prize or not, however. This uncertainty, though, has already caused some potential contestants to drop out of the race before it's even started.
According to an Associated Press report today, the current law gives the authority for the Defense Department to award cash prizes to the Director of Defense Engineering and Research, who oversees DARPA's work. The managers at DARPA believe that this specific authorization essentially precludes it from granting prize money to contest winners. But some in Congress say that the change in the law merely expands the authority to other defense agencies and that DARPA can still give out cash prizes as long as it works with its overseer.
A Pentagon spokesperson said that the agencies are still working out the details in the case of the next Grand Challenge. "We are not aware of a decision to not award cash prizes," Lt. Col. Brian Maka said in a statement. So there still may be time for the military to cut through enough red tape in order to restore the prize money for the upcoming competition.
Either way, a great many of the competitors will show up, out of pride of accomplishment. One of the top finishers in last year's race and a heavy favorite in this year's, William "Red" Whittaker of Carnegie Mellon University, told the AP: "No one is dreaming of big bank accounts or struck by lottery fever. People are out there to innovate."
That's really the winning spirit—whether or not the government ever agrees on just who gets to hold out the giant cardboard check to the innovators who come in first place.