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June 27, 2006, 02:54 PM ET
Stanley's Trip to the Smithsonian
Champion racehorses may get to live out their golden years as studs, but Stanley—the Secretariat (or, at least, Man o’ War) of robot racing—will get to celebrate its retirement in even grander style. The computer-powered SUV, which took first prize in last year’s much-ballyhooed Grand Challenge (The Chronicle, November 18, 2005), will spend this summer on display at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History, reports CNET.
The Grand Challenge, sponsored by the Pentagon’s normally publicity-shy Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, pitted robots like Stanley against each other in a race through the Mojave Desert. Stanley’s creators, a team of researchers at Stanford University, took home a $2-million grant for their vehicle’s first-place performance.
It seems that Smithsonian officials are expecting more big things out of the Stanford team: In its announcement about Stanley’s new home, the museum lauded the robot for providing “a glimpse into a future of ‘smart’ cars and automated highways.” —Brock Read
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