Rob Meyer Productions

The Coyote Unmanned Ground Vehicle System, a Rob Meyer Productions project, is moving forward to compete for a spot in the next DARPA Grand Challenge event, which was announced by DARPA director Dr. Anthony Tether at a press briefing following this year's event in Primm, NV. A review of our technical approach and progress to date had resulted in our being invited from a field of over 100 to compete at the pre-race qualifying and inspection day. We worked diligently for months to construct our totally custom chassis, and to integrate it with a myriad of sensors, processors, and controls.

As the event drew near, the tremendous task of integrating, programming, and finally testing the different systems caught up with us, and after working overnight till the morning we were due at the California Speedway for qualifying, we concluded that there just was not enough time to finish. Nonetheless, we made the trip and watched the truly amazing event unfold. We met with our control team, who shared in our disappointment at not getting to have a go at it this year. The good news is that all is not lost. As many had predicted, there were no finishers this first time around, so there will be a next time, and we have every intention of being there (with our vehicle this time.)

We cannot express enough our appreciation for our sponsors, who have been very understanding and have continued to show support despite our latest setback. It is worth saying especially, that Laser Technology, Inc. really came through for us with a lighting-fast laser rangefinder, which is the basis of our custom designed LIDAR system. In designing the LIDAR for this application, we searched for a time-of-flight laser device that would work fast enough for us to get the resolution we needed, and no other instrument we could find even came close to our requirements. We look forward to continuing the development and testing of our LIDAR, based on the LTI Laser Rangefinder, and we are proud to be finding new applications for LTI's latest technology.

Also, we must once again thank Fabtech Motorsports for the spindles they provided. One look at the pictures of our vehicle shows why we could not have made this design happen without their bombproof raised front spindles. The suspension geometry, lift, and travel we attained could not have happened without the extra 4.5" of lift the Fabtech spindles provided.

Finally, we wish to thank our other sponsors who bent over backwards to give us the best deal possible on everything from tires to sprockets. Robotic Vehicle Competitions are an unusual if not untraditional market for most automotive, industrial and performance parts manufacturers. We appreciate that these businesses see the value in supporting cutting edge projects such as ours, and that they have the confidence in their products to let us test them in some of the worst possible driving conditions (the Mohave desert with a computer behind the wheel!)

Till Next Time - Rob