Re: DARPA Grand Challenge

"Bob" <bob3635x@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1128929609.071096.102800@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> These competitions seem like a far better investment of tax
> dollars than the traditional method of doling out funds to
> researchers based on proposals.

Oh! Yes, I think it's quite a good rip off of the public, to offer a $2
million dollar prize, reap the benefit of maybe $40 million in
expenditure of engineering hours, vehicles, equipment and supplies, that
would have possibly been spend on useful projects, and spend $9 million
just putting on this year's event. So the government got to waste
millions on adminstration as they always must, and bilked millions out
of the hopeful.

Then they under-rewarded only one of the hundreds who tried.

And just like any good government project, now that it is over, nobody
has anything useful or comercial in hand, to show for their efforts.

Plus, with their careful manipulation of who was "selected" and who was
culled, all we had was a bunch of comercial vehicles with computers
strapped on. None of the "who knows what may slither across the starting
line" they originally envisioned.

As you say, it was a "far better investment of tax dollars" but as a
whole, the robotic community has been literally impoverished by it,
maybe to the tune of $40 million. This is not the kind of dealings I
think any honorable government should engage in. How can you?

--
Randy M. Dumse

Caution: Objects in mirror are more confused than they appear.


.

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