TORC & Virginia Tech Finish 3rd in 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge. Partnership to commercialize cutting edge autonomous technology.

On November 3rd, 2007, Team VictorTango’s race vehicle Odin, successfully completed the 60 mile DARPA Urban Challenge. Originally slated for the second pole position, Odin was first out of the gates at 8:04 am. Odin ramped up his speed to 25 miles per hour while rounding the traffic circle and disappeared into the morning mist of the California desert. Four hours and thirty six minutes later, Odin returned safely, 26 minutes behind the winner. During the race, Odin encountered four-way intersections, where he yielded to manned and unmanned traffic. Odin merged onto busy city streets avoiding traffic drivers trying to confuse him and other robots that often forgot to follow California highway rules.

At times, the DARPA provided mission file sent him to areas where he was called him to park in a specific parking place, demonstrating a simulated military re-supply mission. In the end, Odin’s courteous and calculated nature helped to hold off any fender benders. After a long day in traffic, Odin and Team VictorTango were awarded 3rd place in the competition. As one of only three robots to finish under the DARPA imposed time limit, Odin’s journey was fraught with peril. Many of the competitors were pulled from the course due to collisions with other robots and buildings. The completion of the course marks a huge success for TORC Technologies (TORC) and Virginia Tech Unmanned Systems, which allowed them to display the incredible advances that have been made in autonomous vehicle technology. The success in the challenge was the crowning achievement of thousands of hours of research and development spent in the lab, in the simulator, and on the road.

Odin, the competition vehicle, was based on a Ford Escape Hybrid donated by Ford Motor Company. TORC served as lead software architect and developer for the team. The modular software architecture utilized the SAE AS-4 JAUS (Joint Architecture for Unmanned Systems) standard for inter-process communication. JAUS promoted interoperability between systems and increased the efficiency of system development, testing, data logging, and playback. Using a simulation environment tailored for urban ground vehicle navigation, TORC was able to develop and debug software, safely test autonomous behaviors and verify interactions with sensors and the environment. Prior to the Urban Challenge Race, Team VictorTango had navigated similar courses and environments thousands of times in the simulator. This approach significantly improved overall robustness of the software. New behaviors and algorithms were proven well before they hit the street with real vehicles and live drivers.

Due to the inherent need for improved safety in unmanned grounds systems and the specialized needs of large vehicles preparing for the DARPA Urban Challenge, TORC developed the SafeStop™ Wireless Emergency Stop System. The SafeStop™ was utilized by several teams during site visit and qualification. Based on technology inspired by efforts on the Urban Challenge, TORC also commercialized several JAUS-interoperable products such as the ByWire™ Drive-by-Wire Conversion Module, AutonoNav™ Autonomous Navigation Controller, and InterOp™ Collaborative Online JAUS Integration Environment. These products serve to provide vehicle-independent, JAUS-interoperable, autonomous solutions. The combination of these TORC products allows for complete autonomous vehicle solutions, autonomy and safety, as well as simulated environment to develop and evaluate algorithms.

TORC Technologies, LLC is an applied research company focusing on improving our quality of life by automating dull, dirty, and dangerous work through modular and interoperable robotic technologies. TORC employs mechanical, electrical, and software engineers and provides turn-key robotic solutions to system integrators. TORC is located in the Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center in Blacksburg, Virginia.