Rotary Club Meets Autonomous Ground Vehicle

By CART, Inc.

(Bluefield)—When Bruce Mutter spoke at the Bluefield Rotary Club’s July 10 meeting, his presentation was “show & tell.”  The Center for Applied Research & Technology (CART) Director talked about the autonomous ground vehicle that’s being equipped by a team of Bluefield State College students, faculty, graduate students, alumni, local research associates, and industrial engineers to compete in the DARPA “Urban Challenge,” and he also parked the vehicle outside so that Rotary members could experience an “up close” view of its technology and design.

“Team CART” at BSC is hoping that its new autonomous ground vehicle can roll into victory circle at the Defense Applied Research Projects Agency (DARPA) 2007 Urban Challenge, a Department of Defense-sponsored competition that features autonomous ground vehicles that will independently navigate through and around a variety of terrain and traffic challenges in an urban setting.

Mutter also detailed CART’s mission to his audience of Rotarians.  “CART was established to provide efficient and effective research contracting, program development, and revenue generation for the BSC School of Engineering Technology and Computer Science,” he noted. “CART focuses upon innovation through applied research, transferring technologies to markets, and continuing education.”

“Our autonomous vehicle is built around a Lotus Elise car platform,” Mutter said.  “In fact, our vehicle will be pictured on the cover of a soon-to-be-published issue of Navigation News, a publication of the London, England-based Royal Institute of Navigation.  The Lotus frame is much smaller than Team CART’s autonomous vehicle in the 2005 DARPA event.  “The dimensions of the vehicle are paying dividents,” the CART Director noted.  “Handling is more precise and the Lotus stays within the boundaries of its lane.”

Team CART at BSC is the only West Virginia entrant in the DARPA Urban Challenge, and one of only 52 teams remaining in the event (from an original field of 95 teams) to successfully advance through the early rounds of qualifying.

“Our greatest asset is the availability of talented, adaptable, persistent people who can make nearly anything,” Mutter said.