Hummerbot originated as a group project intended to replicate the DARPA Grand Challenge competition on a very small scale. The vehicle was built using a large RC Hummer modified with a Parallax Standard Servo for steering and an Electrifly C-20 ESC motor controller. The vehicle was also fitted with a Garmin etrex GPS receiver for reading position data, a JR Racing R135 3 channel receiver for remote control, and a BX-24 for onboard processing. Using this configuration, an operator could mark a location, manually drive the Hummerbot to another location, and activate autonomous mode. Once in autonomous mode, the Hummerbot would navigate back to the original marked location.

For the Speedway Competition, Hummerbot is being extensively modified. This vehicle uses computer vision rather than GPS data as its primary source of navigation data in conjunction with a digital compass and 3-axis accelerometer. The BX-24 is being replaced with a small ASUA PC for vision processing and executive control and an Arduino for low-level hardware control.

The components:

• The Hummer mobile base with Mabuchi RS-540RH/SH Motor and Parallax Servo for steering
• RC controller/receiver (JR Racing XR3i 3-Channel controller / receiver)
• Electronic Speed Controller (Electrifly C-20 ESC)
• Radio Controlled Relay (Dimension Engineering PicoSwitch)
• Webcam (Logitech QuickCam Communicate Deluxe)
• Arduino (Diecimila)
• Asus Eee PC 900