The Ghostrider comic character was said to possess superhuman strength and durability with the ability to travel between realms and along any surface... the same mission of Berkeley's Blue team who was sponsored by Crossbow Technology when they entered the Pentagon's DARPA Grand Challenge and perhaps why they named their creation the Ghostrider - the only two-wheeled vehicle in that robot car race.
The original DARPA Grand Challenge was intended to accelerate the development of autonomous vehicle technologies by offering a cash prize of $1 Million to the team that built an autonomous robotic ground vehicle that would successfully win a race from Los Angeles to Las Vegas. This specific endeavor was targeted to find smart solutions that would be tested in a realistic scenario under challenging race conditions - something that had never been done before on this scale. Although none of the vehicles completed the course, and the cash prize was not awarded, a tremendous amount was learned about autonomous ground vehicle technology inspiring the future DARPA challenges.
Enjoying a vacation in our nation's capital a few weeks ago, Crossbow's Director of Software for our Inertial Systems, Darren Liccardo stumbled upon the Ghostrider bearing Crossbow's blue and white logo proudly - immortalized in Washington D.C where it has been inducted into the
Smithsonian's National Museum of American History's Collections. Ghost Rider was part of the “Robots on the road” display in the "Looking Ahead" gallery, which was in the “Science in American Life” exhibit.
Ghostrider drove itself without a human rider or remote controls. Utilizing Crossbow's 400 series product as part of its system for balance and control, the modified motorcycle was able to navigate, balance and right itself independently.
For information on the Ghostrider robot visit the team's website here.
For details on Crossbow's inertial systems, visit the site here.
