If you have watched any of the science channels on television, then you may have caught a glimpse of teams competing in the DARPA Urban Challenge, where people compete to create unmanned robotic vehicles that can auto-navigate the urban driving landscape. Now Microsoft is apparently getting into the robotic vehicle act with a partnership with KIA Motors and a newly announced competiion.
It is called the RoboChamps Urban Challenge and what sets this competition apart from the one that DARPA holds is that this competition will take place only in simulated space. Competitors will be tasked to build virtual robots using .NET languages using Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio 2008 as the simulation environment. KIA Motors has allowed five of their popular car models to be converted into simulated robotic cars that have been loaded with virtual sensors for the contest. Competitors will be challenged to program these virtual robotic cars into self driving ones through several checkpoints in a simulated urban environment.
The winner of the competion will own a new KIA Soul, valued at $15,000. Second place will win $10,000 in cash while the third place winner will take home $5000.
For full contest details, you can visit the official RoboChamps website for more information.