January 25, 2005

Searing heat could fry the massive computer innards in a robotically controlled Jeep that a Carmel-based team plans to enter in a Mojave Desert military competition this year.

Choking dust and jarring roads also could end Indy Robot Racing's quest to send the unmanned vehicle at least 175 miles within 10 hours to win $2 million in prize money.

At least it won't have to dodge desert tortoises.

The federally threatened species will be safely penned in burrows while the robots roar by.

Indiana is fielding five of the 124 teams competing in this year's DARPA Grand Challenge.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, whose projects include stealth technology and the Internet, wants to develop "autonomous land vehicles" to save lives of soldiers.

But Indy Robot Racing leaders have another goal in mind: Convincing Indiana citizens that futuristic robotics expertise lurking in its universities and the private sector is a good match for its heritage of transportation manufacturing.

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