Finalists Chosen for DARPA's Grand Challenge

Twenty-three finalists made it through the qualifying round of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's (DARPA) robotic race, dubbed the Grand Challenge. The contestants will compete on Saturday October 8th, in hopes of winning the $2 million (USD) prize.

For those out of the loop, the Grand Challenge is a desert race between autonomous, robotic ground vehicles. The goal is to successfully complete the course, which this year may be as long as 175 miles, in the allotted time. None of the fifteen entrants finished in last year's inaugural run.

And now for the finalists:

Axion Racing's Spirit, a converted Jeep Grand Cherokee
The CajunBot from Team Cajunbot, a six wheeled all terrain vehicle
Alice by Team Caltech, a customized 2005 Ford E-350 van
The NaviGATOR by CIMAR, a custom vehicle designed by All Terrain Georgia Monsters
Team Cornell's Spider, a military light strike vehicle
"DAD, Are We There Yet?" by Team DAD, a Toyota Pickup truck
ION from the Desert Buckeyes, the intelligent off-road navigator
Team ENSCO's Dexter, Deployable EXtreme Terrain Enabled Robot
Golem 2 by UCLA's Golem Group, a completely rebuilt pickup truck
Insight Racing's Desert Rat, a modified Chevy Suburban (I think)
Desert Tortoise from Intelligent Vehicle Safety Technologies, a revamped Ford F250
Prospect 11 by Princeton University , Toyota pickup
The Red Team's Sandstorm, a 1986 model 998 HMMWV (High Mobility Multi-purpose Wheeled Vehicle)
And Red Team Too's H1ghlander, a 1999 H1 HUMMER
Stanford Racing Team's Stanley, a diesel-powered Volkswagen Touareg R5
TerraMax from Team TerraMax, a Medium Tactical Vehicle Replacement (MTVR) defense truck platform

Check back, Saturday evening for the results of DARPA's 2005 Grand Challenge.