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2003-12-02 The News Tribune has a story about one of the DARPA Grand Challenge teams: The Prodigies. If you haven't heard of them before the thing that makes this team unique and interesting is that they are all teenagers with 14-year-old Nicholas Hozas as team captain. The other interesting part of the story is their budget for their vehicle -The Expeditor, which is presently less than a US$1000.00 (thanks to the sales on eBay of the extra unneeded parts of the Suzuki all terrain vehicle they are using as its base).
"Its design is based on a sandrail, off-road dune buggy and a four-wheel all-terrain vehicle. Five feet long, 2 1/2 feet tall, and 4 feet wide, The Expeditor is made of 3/4-inch square steel tubing and powered by a 230 cc all-terrain vehicle gas engine."
At the time of the News Tribune article writing The Prodigies were just about to get have their site visit from DARPA officials to see if they could scoop one of the remaining 7 spots for the preliminary race to determine the final 20 actual participants in the Grand Challenge. In an email to us today Nicholas told us the DARPA site visit went pretty well. So we'll keep our fingers crossed.
You can't help but root for these guys if you could imagine what it would mean to the scientific/robotics community if a handful of teenagers for under a $1000 dollars could do what no one else has managed... and grab the 1 million in prize money.
Earlier this year we interviewed Nicholoas about The Prodigies strategy, which you can read by clicking the "read on" link below.
Full Story: News Tribune
Prodigious young talents
Nicholas Hoza is the team leader for "The Prodigies" an entry in DARPA's 1 Million Dollar Grand Challenge autonomous vehicle race. Nicholas was kind enough to give us some of his valuable time and discuss with Mobile Robotics what its like to be participating in this high profile robotics event.
MR: Nicholas, can you start off by giving us a little bit of background about the Prodigies team? What are your interests and experience and how did you come together and decide to participate in the DARPA Grand Challenge?
Nicholas:It all started last January when I began developing software to simulate Artificial Neural Networks. I had been interested in them for a while, and I wanted to see some of the results I had read about. Soon afterwards, I read about the DARPA Grand Challenge.
I'm fourteen years old, and I've been interested in building robots since kindergarten, when I got my first electronics kit, and I've always been ready to compete in any contest. With seven years of programming experience and just as much robotic knowledge, I was very interested in the Grand Challenge.
After three months of programming and designing, I told my cousin Christopher Medrzycki about the Challenge. Chris, 19 years old and currently attending Seattle University, knows a lot about cars and how they work. He was instantly interested and started coming up with all sorts of ideas about how to build a vehicle.
MR:There is no doubt that creating a rugged autonomous vehicle that can succeed within the parameters of the Grand Challenge's rules presents a number of technical challenges. What do you see as the most difficult technical challenge faced by the Prodigies?
Nicholas:I wouldn't say that there is any one most difficult technical challenge. Building an autonomous ground vehicle consists of many small challenges, each of which must be overcome in order to get the results wanted.
Some of the technical challenges we're facing right now are building a laser-scanner, finding an automatic brake solution, and getting the optimal battery. Along with many other small challenges like these, we're slowly solving the problems and soon we'll have a fully functional autonomous ground vehicle.
MR:Any challenges beyond the technical that you think are worth mentioning to robotics fans?
Nicholas:As always, there's the problem of money. We're finding it hard to come up with the money needed for various components that are needed.
MR:With some stiff competition coming from some very well funded and famous teams like Carnagie Mellon's what advantages or strengths do you think that the Prodigies might bring to the competition?
Nicholas:We named our team The Prodigies to show that just because we're younger than most teams doesn't mean we don't know what we're talking about. Some strengths that we have include many original ideas that probably won't be seen in other race vehicles along with well-thought out designs.
MR:Will the Prodigies be developing any specific new technologies? mechanical, software or otherwise that haven't been seen before? If so, are there any applications beyond your present race vehicle that you see your new technologies enabling?
Nicholas:Many of our designs are based on known ideas, but with our own twist added. Expeditor, our AGV, will employ several sensors that have been constructed by us including an accelerometer and a three-dimensional laser scanner. I have written all of the software on my own, and have made the artificial neural networks different from traditional designs to be used especially for our purpose. This software could definitely be used to completely automate many robotic applications.
MR:Some of the teams entering the Grand Challenge are doing so in an attempt to gain possible funding or attract future military contracts. Is that a goal of the Prodigies?
Nicholas:As its name says, this is certainly a Grand Challenge. Any type of challenge is always fun to compete in and be part of. We're doing this for the fun and the challenge!
MR:Fielding an entry in the DARPA Grand Challenge obviously takes a lot of resources in terms of time, money, equipment, promotion etc. Are the Prodigies looking for any help in any particular areas?
Nicholas:Right now we're looking for an old ATV to use parts from. The parts we need from this include the swing arm, rear axle, rear shock, brakes, a-arms, wheels and tires, and the alternator. We're also looking for companies to donate a GPS, a battery, and a better engine. We may have gotten the GPS and battery taken care of, but we aren't sure yet. We already have a 3hp engine, but we want to upgrade it to a 5 or 6hp engine.
MR:What do you think the chances of the Prodigies completing or winning the event are?
Nicholas:I'd say that we have a good chance of completing the race, and maybe even a chance of winning it! We're on schedule so far, and as we progress we'll be able to see just how good our chances are.
MR:.If people want to find out more about the Prodigies or support you in anyway what can they do?
Nicholas:If anybody has any questions or support to offer he/she can contact me at n*i*c*8*5*7*9@hotmail.com (remove the *s - they're to prevent spam)