The document discusses the history and development of unmanned ground vehicles through several US Department of Defense programs: - By 2010, the goal was for one-third of deep strike aircraft and by 2015, one-third of ground combat vehicles to be unmanned. - In 2003 during the Iraq war, a convoy of the 507th Maintenance Company took a wrong turn and entered the city of An Nasiriyah, resulting in 11 soldiers killed, 7 captured, and 10 vehicles destroyed or captured. - Subsequent DARPA Grand Challenge events in 2004 and 2005 sought to accelerate autonomous vehicle technologies, with the 2005 competition seeing 5 vehicles complete a 132 mile off-road course, led by Stanford's

1. 2013 photo
Origins … Or rather … The Search for Origins !
It’s the ODYSSEY that is important
Back to the Future
Dr R.J. (Bob) Williams [Retired]
Cartographer
Topographic Surveyor,
Geographer & Geospatial Scientist
QUALIFICATIONS – Professional
BA Computing Studies (Canberra CAE)
MSc (Cartography) (U Wisconsin)
PhD (UNSW)
QUALIFICATIONS – Trade
Topographic Surveyor
Photogrammetrist
Cartographic Technician
Videre Parare Est
VISION & Strategic Policy INTELLIGENT VEHICLES
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2. UNMANNED COMBAT VEHICLES – US DoD
October 30, 2000
PUBLIC LAW 106–398—OCT. 30, 2000
NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION,
FISCAL YEAR 2001
SEC. 220. UNMANNED ADVANCED CAPABILITY
COMBAT AIRCRAFT AND
GROUND COMBAT VEHICLES.
(a) GOAL.—It shall be a goal of the Armed Forces to achieve
the fielding of unmanned, remotely controlled technology
such that—
(1) by 2010, one-third of the aircraft in the operational
deep strike force aircraft fleet are unmanned; and
(2) by 2015, one-third of the operational ground
combat vehicles are unmanned.
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3. OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM – US DoD
March 20, 2003
In the early morning hours of 20 March 2003, U.S. Army, U.S.
Marine Corps and coalition ground combat forces crossed
from Kuwait into southern Iraq and attacked northward,
beginning the ground phase of OPERATION IRAQI
FREEDOM. By dawn on 23 March, major U.S. ground combat
units had advanced more than 200 miles into Iraq and were
approximately 130 miles north of An Nasiriyah, an advance
historically unprecedented for speed of execution and depth of
penetration, designed to unhinge the Iraqis’ ability to mount a
coherent defense.
The rapid advance of coalition troops in thousands of vehicles
and hundreds of aircraft was made possible by the
determined, aggressive support of scores of logistics, medical,
and maintenance units, many moving constantly to maintain
contact with their supported units. One such unit was the 507th
Maintenance Company, tasked to support a vitally
important asset – a Patriot missile battalion.
At about 0700 hours (local time) on 23 March 2003, while
moving through the outskirts of the city of An Nasiriyah in
southeastern Iraq, an element of the 507th Maintenance
Company was attacked by Iraqi military forces and irregulars.
There were 33 U.S. Soldiers in the 18-vehicle convoy.
The Iraqi forces in An Nasiriyah conducted fierce attacks
against the convoy.
Of the 33 U.S. Soldiers in the convoy, 11 were killed in
combat or died as a result of injuries, seven were
captured by Iraqi forces, and the remaining 16 Soldiers
were able to rejoin friendly forces. Of the 22 U.S. Soldiers
who survived, nine were wounded in action.
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4. Many will remember Jessica Lynch, the nineteen year old private captured in an
ambush and rescued by American special forces in Iraq. The media brief and short
video that followed the rescue became the basis of a story that developed over
seven months. Six hundred articles were written. Book deals were negotiated.
Television networks lobbied over interviews. NBC produced a television movie titled
“Saving Jessica Lynch”.
Whilst Jessica Lynch may well be remembered for her role (intentional or
unintentional) in the media event, what we (the surveying and mapping sciences
community) should observe is the event that preceded her capture; the tragic
ambush of the 507th Maintenance Company.
The United States Army report “Attack on the 507th Maintenance Company, 23
March 2003, an Nasiriyah, Iraq” (US Army 2003) states “in the unprecedented rapid
advance of the ground campaign towards Baghdad, the 507th Maintenance Company
was last in a march column of 600 vehicles. The company became isolated as
communications, already stretched to the limit, could not be extended to include
them while they recovered heavy wheeled vehicles from soft sand and breakdowns
along a cross-country route through the Iraqi desert. Over a period of 60-70 hours
with little rest and limited communications, human error contributed to the
situation through a single navigation error that placed these troops in the
presence of an adaptive enemy”.
Of the thirty-three soldiers in eighteen vehicles that mistakenly entered An Nasiriyah,
eleven soldiers were killed, seven soldiers were captured and ten vehicles were
destroyed or captured. This was a tragic event.
OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM – US DoD
March 23, 2003
CUTTING EDGE
ENEMY IMAGE
Produced by
Multimedia France Production
France 2
2005

5. None of the robot vehicles finished the
route.
Carnegie Mellon’s Red Team and car
Sandstorm (a converted Humvee) travelled
the farthest distance, completing 11.78 km
(7.32 mi) of the course before getting hung
up on a rock after making a switchback
turn. No winner was declared, and the
cash prize was not given.
Therefore, a second DARPA Grand
Challenge event was scheduled for 2005.
The purpose of the DARPA Grand
Challenge2004 is to leverage American
ingenuity to accelerate the development
of autonomous vehicle technologies
that can be applied to military
requirements.
U Innovation
March 13, 2004
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6. U Innovation
October 8, 2005
The second driverless car competition of the DARPA Grand
Challenge was a 212 km (132 mi) off-road course that began
at 6:40am on October 8, 2005, near the California/Nevada
state line. All but one of the 23 finalists in the 2005 race
surpassed the 11.78 km (7.32 mi) distance completed by the
best vehicle in the 2004 race. Five vehicles successfully
completed the course.
The route to be followed by the robots was supplied to the
teams two hours before the start as a computer file with GPS
coordinates, one every 72 m (237 feet) of the route, with more
frequent waypoints in difficult patches. Some teams used
topographic maps and aerial imagery to manually map out
and program precise path and speed settings. Once the race
had started, the robots were not allowed to contact humans in
any way. Each robot started at a different time and was
"paused" for different amounts of time during the race; DARPA
compensated for the staggered start times and subtracted the
pause time from each robot's total to derive its final official
time. The $2 million prize was awarded on Sunday, October 9,
2005.
The winner of the 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge was Stanley,
with a course time of 6 hours 53 minutes and 8 seconds
(6:53:08) with average speed of 30.7 km/h (19.1 mph). CMU's
Sandstorm followed with 7:04:50 at 29.9 km/h (18.6 mph) and
H1ghlander at 7:14:00 at 29.3 km/h (18.2 mph). Gray Team's
Kat-5 came through at 7:30:16 with average speed of
28.2 km/h (17.5 mph). Oshkosh Truck's Terramax finished at
12:51 and would not have been eligible for the prize because
it exceeded the ten-hour limit.
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7. U Innovation
November 3, 2007
The DARPA Urban Challenge was held on November 3,
2007, at the former George AFB in Victorville, Calif. Building
on the success of the 2004 and 2005 Grand Challenges, this
event required teams to build an autonomous vehicle
capable of driving in traffic, performing complex
maneuvers such as merging, passing, parking and
negotiating intersections.
This event was truly groundbreaking as the first time
autonomous vehicles have interacted with both manned
and unmanned vehicle traffic in an urban environment.
An autonomous ground vehicle is a vehicle that navigates
and drives entirely on its own with no human driver and no
remote control. Through the use of various sensors and
positioning systems, the vehicle determines all the
characteristics of its environment required to enable it to
carry out the task it has been assigned.
The final event consisted of three missions, approximately
55 miles (89 km) in total, given to each team. A team's score for
each mission was computed by taking the total time taken to
complete the mission, and adding and subtracting penalties and bonuses. Penalties were assessed for excessive delay,
violating traffic rules, exhibiting dangerous behavior, etc. Vehicles were frequently manually paused for safety
reasons; if a vehicle was not the root cause of such a pause then the duration of the pause was not counted in its final
score. In order to officially complete the race, a vehicle's adjusted time for the three missions must be under six hours.
Six autonomous vehicle teams finished the event; Carnegie Mellon, Stanford, Virginia Tech, Ben Franklin Racing, MIT,
and Cornell. On November 4, CMU's Boss was named the winner, followed by Stanford's Junior, then Virginia Tech's
Odin, and MIT's Talos.
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