The world's largest robotic vehicle! When I hear "world's largest", I think maybe you will need to know it! Computer scientists from Carnegie Mellon University have teamed up with engineers from Caterpillar, adapting software CMU used in the DARPA Urban Challenge, to automate the 700-ton trucks, which are made to haul loads up to 240 tons from mines.
That's nearly two million pounds of metal, fuel and stone powered by a 3,550-horsepower, 24-valve engine moving at up to 42 miles per hour, with software and a robot at the wheel. The Caterpillar trucks will be equipped with numerous high-tech gadgets and GPS receivers to keep them on the road. Laser range finders would sweep the road in front of the trucks to identify large objects. Video equipment would then determine if the object is a hazard, such as a rock, or not. All of the information would then be run through a computer program that would tell the robotic driver to avoid the obstacle or not and by how much...[ link ]