Press Release

CMLabs and Carnegie Mellon team up for the DARPA Grand Challenge

Vortex, by CMLabs, being used to drive the Sandstorm Robot to victory.

December 1, 2003 – Orlando, FL — Today, at The Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference (I/ITSEC), CMLabs, developers of Vortex, the premier physics engine for interactive simulations, is proud to announce its participation as a technology partner with Carnegie Mellon University's Red Team in the prestigious DARPA Grand Challenge, a first-ever cross-desert race for robots, from Los Angeles to Las Vegas in March 2004.

The Red Team is a collaborative alliance of for-profit companies, non-profit organizations, and individuals led by the Robotics Institute of Carnegie Mellon University. As experts in vehicle dynamics, CMLabs has been chosen to contribute Vortex software and related expertise to drive the success of the Red Team's Sandstorm Robot. The Sandstorm Robot is an HMMWV that has been redesigned specifically to be able to drive the 250-mile racecourse with no onboard personnel. This unmanned land vehicle requires state-of-the-art navigation software coupled with an incredibly reliable and robust mechanical chassis to navigate the course. The onboard processing system will extract terrain models from a variety of sensing modalities and combine these with a dynamic model of the Sandstorm Vehicle to determine the optimal path given the high speeds required to win the Grand Challenge.

The Red Team chose Vortex as the software solution for generating dynamic path planning across the 250-mile desert terrain. Vortex is very fast and delivers accurate collision detection, essential for obstacle avoidance and best path determination. “Our survey of available dynamics engines concluded that no other software could meet the speed and accuracy of Vortex,” says Chris Urmson, Red Team technology leader. The fast frame rates, and accurate terrain navigation will enable the Sandstorm Robot to navigate the 250-mile desert obstacle course.

The Red Team faces tight deadlines and stiff competition from the other teams, but “with an intuitive interface, Vortex enabled us to quickly begin developing our application,” states Mr. Urmson. “Technology like Vortex will help us win the Grand Challenge!”

“CMLabs is very excited to be working with this world-class team,” states Robert Weldon, CEO of CMLabs. “Vortex is fast becoming the physics solution of choice for applications that require accurate modeling with very fast performance rates. To ensure the success of this endeavor, we are working in close collaboration with the Red Team, and also with their other sponsors, including Intel, to optimize Vortex for speed on the new Itanium-based 64-bit machines.”

About CMLabs Simulations, Inc.

Headquartered in Montreal, Canada, CMLabs is a service provider specializing in physics-based behavior modeling for 3D simulations.

Our core development tool, Vortex is a comprehensive COTS toolset for rigid-body dynamics, collision detection, vehicle dynamics, path planning, obstacle avoidance and more. Based on physics, Vortex guarantees realistic movement and object interaction. It is used to model heavy vehicles, industrial equipment, robotics and more for fully immersive simulations in virtual reality settings.

For more information, visit www.cm-labs.com or contact Heather Black by phone: 514-569-3236 or by email: heather.black@cm-labs.com.

About Carnegie Mellon Red Team

Carnegie Mellon University's Red Team is directed by Fredkin Research Professor William L. “Red” Whittaker, collaborating with his students, colleagues and a host of corporate sponsors. According to Whittaker, “The Red Team is racing to catalyze technology, build new relationships, change the view of what's possible and create new robotic applications in the world.”

For more information about the Red Team, contact Scott Gray: frescot@hotmail.com or Anne Watzman: aw16@andrew.cmu.edu.