Tektronix to sponsor Cornell in DARPA Challenge

When a team of Cornell University students and faculty build their entry for the next DARPA Grand Challenge, scheduled for October 2005, they will be aided by test equipment supplied by Tektronix (Beaverton, OR). Participants in the DARPA Challenge will compete to develop an unmanned ground vehicle that can traverse more than 150 miles of terrain in the southwest part of the US (the location is yet to be announced for 2005). In the first competition, held in March 2004, no vehicle was able to complete the course.

Tektronix has donated TPS2024 and TDS3034B oscilloscopes and accessories that the Cornell team will use when designing a robotic system for the challenge. In a prepared statement, Professor Ephrahim Garcia, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at Cornell, commented, "With only a year until the next competition, there is not much time to design and test our entry. Cornell will benefit by using the Tektronix oscilloscopes to improve our productivity. With our strong mechanical engineering base and the assistance of sponsors like Tektronix, Cornell Engineering will be in an enhanced position to build a robotic vehicle capable of taking on this difficult challenge." For more about the DARPA Grand Challenge, visit www.darpa.mil/grandchallenge/index.html .