Folks, the BIG day has arrived. For our fans, here is the schedule for the day. First the time zone. We are in Pacific time zone, two hours behind Central Zone (Louisiana time). When it is 3AM here, it is 5 AM in Louisiana. The team will wake up at 1AM (yes, that’s AM, an hour past midnight). Pack bags, and head out at 2AM. Well, at least the ‘bot’-handlers will be out by 2AM. Others will follow within the next half hour. We expect to arrive at Slash X Cafe in Stoddard Valley OHV Area around 2:45 AM. We must be there by 3:20AM. However, we do not want to take chances with car trouble, traffic problems, and the likes. At 3:20AM DARPA folks will give the first six teams the RDDF file. RDDF stands for Route Data Definition file. The file will contain the route DARPA wants our bot to take. The route will consist of a sequence of ‘way points,’ given in latitude/longitude form. Also included in the route file will be the width of the track between two way points and the maximum speed permissible along the track. The next six teams, which includes CajunBot, will get the same information half an hour later. The opening ceremony will start at 6:00am. At 6:30am, the first bot from the Red Team of CMU, will leave the chute. The next five bots will leave at five minutes interval. There are only six chutes at the opening line. The next six bots will then load up the chutes. Ready to leave at 7:00am. From there on the schedule depends on the performance of individual bots. Most DARPA folks expect that the field will get narrowed down to 10 within 3 miles, and then reduced to 3 within 20 miles. The route is expected to be tough.
Arun Lakhotia