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With a name like Ghostrider, Anthony Levandowski's custom motorcycle sounds like it zoomed out of a 1950s biker movie. But the name actually suits the two-wheeler to a T. That's because Ghostrider is a robocycle with no rider: it drives itself.
Levandowski (M.S.'03 IEOR) has spent two years leading a full-time effort to build the first autonomous two-wheeled vehicle. The payoff could be huge. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has offered $2 million to the team that builds an autonomous vehicle to successfully navigate from Los Angeles to Las Vegas in the shortest time during a field test. When Levandowski first heard about the DARPA race, dubbed the Grand Challenge, he suspected that all of the teams would likely be modifying Hummers, jeeps, and trucks to go the distance without any human intervention. "For the battlefield applications that interest DARPA, two-wheeled vehicles are easier to maneuver in tight places and can go faster," Levandowski says. "Of course, the idea of a motorcycle without a rider is pretty cool too." With assistance from a handful of dedicated UC Berkeley students and supportive faculty, Levandowski went to work rolling out the robobike. Thanks to sponsors like Agilent Technologies, Advanced Micro Devices, Crossbow Technology, and Raytheon Company, he's spent less than $150,000 on the project. The vehicle is tricked out with myriad sensors that constantly feed real-world data to Levandowski's balancing algorithms running on the onboard computer. Gyros and precise steering control keeps the bike from tipping. Meanwhile, two video cameras act as Ghostrider's eyes on the road ahead. http://rapidshare.com/files/132858891/circle.rar No pass. You can also check my blog for other stuff. http://www.inethouse.info/user/markdmk
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