crab/not-crab

Update 10/10/2005 5:02 PM: The not-crab half of the image above is explained here. I have no explanation for the other half. Team Terramax finished the 132-mile course but only after the 10 hour deadline had passed. Since the $2,000,000 prize money is your tax dollars at work we must ask - what does the Pentagon want with robotic vehicles?

Stanford Wins Pentagon Robot Race (emphasis mine):

"This car, to me, is really a piece of history," Stanford computer scientist Sebastian Thrun said after receiving an oversize check for the $2 million prize, funded by taxpayers.

[...]

A fifth vehicle, a 16-ton truck named TerraMax, was the last to finish Sunday, though not within the contest's 10-hour deadline. Its operators paused it Saturday night so it would not have to race in darkness.

It is unclear how the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency plans to harness the technology used in the race for military applications. But Thrun said he wanted to design automated systems to make next-generation cars safer for everyone, not just the military.

"If it was only for the military, I wouldn't be here today," Thrun said.

[...]

The robotic vehicles had to navigate a course designed to mimic driving conditions in Iraq and Afghanistan.

I don't mean to be a pest, but I think there's a lot more to driving in Iraq these days than just bumpy desert roads. Well, if the robo-trucks don't work out we've still got this guy right?

CUYAHOGA FALLS -- A member of Ohio's 5694th National Guard Unit in Mansfield legally changed his name to a Transformers toy. Optimus Prime is heading out to the Middle East with his guard unit on Wednesday to provide fire protection for airfields under combat.

wikipedia: Optimus_Prime_(person)

I'm gonna change my name to, um, ah, I don't know, does this car have a name?