Mods for robotic VX

[Jorge]

I really hate to see one getting cut up for this challenge.
...
Why not a nice retired dune buggy/desert racer?

Hello mbeach:

As a car enthusiast, I agree with your comments. I hate to see any car cut up for any reason. After having owned our VehiCROSS "robot" for the past 2 months, I want to buy another one just for myself :-) One of our self-imposed criteria is to "show respect" for our VehiCROSS. We are saving and carefully labeling every nut and bolt and piece of trim we remove from the car. After the race is over, our goal is to be able to assemble the VehiCROSS back to as close to mint condition as possible.

As far as using a retired dune buggy, you are right. The crux of the matter is software, machine vision, and control theory. We could conceivably strap our cameras and vision algorithms to a beat up Ford pickup and do just as well as with our VehiCROSS. Did you ever see the movie "Back to the Future"? In this movie Marty asks Doc why he used a DeLorean? To which Doc replies: "--If you're going to build a time machine into a car, why not do it with some style?" I think the same applies to us :-) If you are going to go through the immense trouble of building a robotic car, why not use a head-turning bad-*** looking little SUV like the VehiCROSS? We are very happy with our choice... and we are doing our best to show it the respect it deserves :-)

Jorge

[jim.LR>AR]

amen style is everthing.....

[Heraclid]

As far as using a retired dune buggy, you are right. The crux of the matter is software, machine vision, and control theory. We could conceivably strap our cameras and vision algorithms to a beat up Ford pickup and do just as well as with our VehiCROSS. Did you ever see the movie "Back to the Future"? In this movie Marty asks Doc why he used a DeLorean? To which Doc replies: "--If you're going to build a time machine into a car, why not do it with some style?" I think the same applies to us :-) If you are going to go through the immense trouble of building a robotic car, why not use a head-turning bad-*** looking little SUV like the VehiCROSS? We are very happy with our choice... and we are doing our best to show it the respect it deserves :-)

I'm wiping a tear from my eye. That was beautiful. YOU GUYS ROCK! :-)

[Swordy]

01001001 00100000 01100001 01100111 01110010 01100101 01100101 00100000 01110111 01101001 01110100 01101000 00100000 01000100 01101111 01100011 00101110 00100000 01000110 01110101 01101110 01100011 01110100 01101001 01101111 01101110 00100000 00101011 00100000 01100110 01101111 01110010 01101101 00100000 00111101 00100000 01100001 01110010 01110100 00101110 00100000 00100000 00111010 00101001

Amen

[Jorge]

01010011 01110111 01101111 01110010 01100100 01111001 00111010 00100000 01110100 01110010
01100001 01101110 01110011 01101101 01101001 01110011 01110011 01101001 01101111 01101110
00100000 01110010 01100101 01100011 01100101 01101001 01110110 01100101 01100100 00100000
01100001 01101110 01100100 00100000 01100001 01100011 01101011 01101110 01101111 01110111
01101100 01100101 01100111 01100101 01100100 00100001 00100001 00100001 00100000 00111010
00101101 00101001

:-)

[Art]

We received the Parnelli Jones Dirt Grips... they are heavy, and they look like they mean business... can't wait to put them on!
Thanks for the help selecting them.

Our Ironman VX looks out of this world...

http://www.wildtoys.com/vehicross/im..._pg104_800.jpg

Art

[Moncha]

If you have time and want to.. Just as any member, please post pics of your progress in the gallery.. I'd even do up a special category for ya

[mbeach]

One of our self-imposed criteria is to "show respect" for our VehiCROSS. After the race is over, our goal is to be able to assemble the VehiCROSS back to as close to mint condition as possible.

"--If you're going to build a time machine into a car, why not do it with some style?" I think the same applies to us :-) If you are going to go through the immense trouble of building a robotic car, why not use a head-turning bad-*** looking little SUV like the VehiCROSS? We are very happy with our choice... and we are doing our best to show it the respect it deserves :-)

That's good enough for me!

I was reviewing the results of the DGC last year (just to see exactly what obstacles the racers would be faced with), there were some pretty neat concepts out there. I wanted to find out what the failures were on some of the top vehicles. Is there a 'list' of this information available to you?