Resumen de From finish to start.
The article looks at the Grand Challenge robot race in March 2004, an annual event that pushes mobile robotics forward. Although the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) may have sponsored the race to encourage the development of self-driving battlefield vehicles, most of the research teams that made it to the starting line in mid-March are looking for glory. Researcher William Whittaker of Carnegie Mellon University sees the Grand Challenge as worthwhile mainly because it is helping to push robots out of the laboratory and into the real world. Whittaker sees two keys to winning both the immediate race and the larger struggle to shove mobile robotics into industry and everyday life. The first necessity is to persuade car, computer and sensor makers that they can profit by working together. Doing that means piquing the interest of the public and of politicians, which DARPA has now done. The second key, he says, is to teach a generation of young engineers how to invent reliable, robust systems and not just parts for demonstrations.
