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ResearchProjects Agency ͑DARPA͒ announced a "Grand Challenge" to robotics researchers, engineers, inventors, and hobbyists across the country: Develop a mobile robot that can autonomously traverse an outdoor route of 140 miles from Barstow, CA to Primm, NV on Saturday, March 13, 2004. The course would run over dirt roads, trails, lakebeds, rocky terrain, and gullies-and the team whose robot completed the course the fastest ͑within a 10 h time limit͒ would receive 1, 000, 000. The fact that none of the 15 finalists completed more than 7. 4 miles of the course served as a testimonial to the difficulty of developing an autonomous robot that is robust, perceptive, and intelligent enough to travel long distances in unstructured terrain. The competition also served as a wake-up call to robotics researchers, as it demonstrated that algorithms that function perfectly in simulations or in the laboratory are sometimes less effective in the real world. The second DARPA Grand Challenge ͑DGC͒ was held on October 8, 2005. One hundred ninety-five applicants were whittled to 23 finalist robots, which competed on a twisting unpaved course over 132 miles near Primm, NV. Remarkably, 22 of the 23 finalists traveled farther than the 7. 4 miles traversed by the most successful entry from 2004. Even more remarkably, five vehicles successfully completed the course. The Stanford Racing Team was awarded the 2, 000, 000 prize with a winning time of 6 h, 53 min. Their achievement-and the achievement of all of the finalists-marks a significant milestone in robotics technology, and promises a bright future for the increased use of mobile robots in real-world scenarios. This double issue of the Journal of Field Robotics ͑JFR͒ presents 15 papers describing 16 of the 23 ve-
Iagnemma et al. (Fri,) studied this question.