Intrepid won the bronze medal at Robogames 2007 RoboMagellan competition down at the Presidio in San Francicso. In case you're interested, those are Monterrey Pines in the background. They are a native of about 200 miles of California coastline peculiar for their wind-sculpted look. Intrepid was the only robot to complete the course and touched all the required and bonus cones. It was however a bit on the slow side. The Cal-Poly team saw the writing on the wall and did some quick thinking. They decided to forgo the "bonus waypoints" that Intrepid found at the cost of time negotiating difficult obstacles. They reprogrammed their robot to exploit its superior speed and just do the start and finish cones, thereby avoiding the obstacles altogether and winning based on speed alone. Here is Intrepid making contact with one of the waypoint cones. (click on the pix for bigger ones)  Intrepid doing its thing, followed by a phalanyx of observers.  This was a nasty obstacle - low to the ground and irregular. Intrepid had the only obstacle avoidance algorithm that really worked and would have won the gold were it not for the quick-wittedness of the Cal Poly team. They could see the hand-writing on the wall, and changed their strategy to forgo the "bonus waypoints" that Intrepid found at the cost of time negotiating difficult obstacles. They reprogrammed their robot to exploit its superior speed and just do the start and finish cones, thereby avoiding the obstacles alltogether and winning based on speed alone.  Zeroing in on the waypoint cone. It has to find it and touch it.  Touche!  One more...  Home free.  "I'm thinking about making one that weighs less..."
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