November 18, 2005

Driven by Design

By BROCK READ

College research teams, lured by the Pentagon, race robotic cars in the desert

A winning football coach might be prepared to have cheering supporters lift him to their shoulders and carry him around. But a successful robotics researcher? Not very likely.

So it's hard to blame Sebastian Thrun, an associate professor of computer science at Stanford University, for looking a bit confused as a pack of students hoisted him aloft last month.

The students were exultant that the

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