Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
San Francisco Chronicle
August 8, 2007
Pg. C1
By Tom Abate, Chronicle Staff Writer
Anaheim -- A low-profile Defense Department agency best known for laying the groundwork for the Internet is kicking off its 50th year of technological research this week with a conference showing off its latest projects.
More than 3,000 scientists, entrepreneurs and military brass are gathering in Anaheim through Thursday for DARPATech 2007, sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
Although the group often is linked with the creation of the Web, agency director Anthony Tether reminded his audience of academic and private industry defense contractors that DARPA had been christened nearly 50 years ago after the United States, stunned by the Soviet launch of Sputnik, decided it needed a group to explore what he called the far side of technological research.
"DARPA was created by President (Dwight) Eisenhower to mine the far side so the United States would never be surprised again," Tether said.
Quickly reviewing the past half-century, Tether noted in his kickoff speech how DARPA's swing-for-the-fences research mission had spawned not just the Internet but stealth technology, night-vision goggles and, most recently, driverless cars controlled by computer software.
Robotics has been one of the agency's newest and most publicly visible thrusts, and twice in recent years it has sponsored races by driverless vehicles across the desert, including the 2005 competition won by a team from Stanford University.
On Thursday, DARPA is expected to announce the finalists in the next stage of this robotics competition, to be held Nov. 3, when robo-cars will have to travel 60 miles in fewer than six hours in an as-yet unannounced simulated urban setting that would force the driverless cars to negotiate stop signs and traffic.
Tether drew some laughs when he called for volunteers, saying, "We're short of pedestrians" for the test.
The DARPA chief also alluded to the unusual nature of his organization, which combines the stiff-backed orthodoxy of military culture with a record of risk taking that rivals that of Silicon Valley.
Trying to encapsulate what he called DARPA's secret sauce, Tether said the junior officers at the core of the agency know that they have "the freedom to fail" - as long as they learn from their mistakes - a condition that gives them "the boldness to go for big ideas."
August 8, 2007
Pg. C1
By Tom Abate, Chronicle Staff Writer
Anaheim -- A low-profile Defense Department agency best known for laying the groundwork for the Internet is kicking off its 50th year of technological research this week with a conference showing off its latest projects.
More than 3,000 scientists, entrepreneurs and military brass are gathering in Anaheim through Thursday for DARPATech 2007, sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
Although the group often is linked with the creation of the Web, agency director Anthony Tether reminded his audience of academic and private industry defense contractors that DARPA had been christened nearly 50 years ago after the United States, stunned by the Soviet launch of Sputnik, decided it needed a group to explore what he called the far side of technological research.
"DARPA was created by President (Dwight) Eisenhower to mine the far side so the United States would never be surprised again," Tether said.
Quickly reviewing the past half-century, Tether noted in his kickoff speech how DARPA's swing-for-the-fences research mission had spawned not just the Internet but stealth technology, night-vision goggles and, most recently, driverless cars controlled by computer software.
Robotics has been one of the agency's newest and most publicly visible thrusts, and twice in recent years it has sponsored races by driverless vehicles across the desert, including the 2005 competition won by a team from Stanford University.
On Thursday, DARPA is expected to announce the finalists in the next stage of this robotics competition, to be held Nov. 3, when robo-cars will have to travel 60 miles in fewer than six hours in an as-yet unannounced simulated urban setting that would force the driverless cars to negotiate stop signs and traffic.
Tether drew some laughs when he called for volunteers, saying, "We're short of pedestrians" for the test.
The DARPA chief also alluded to the unusual nature of his organization, which combines the stiff-backed orthodoxy of military culture with a record of risk taking that rivals that of Silicon Valley.
Trying to encapsulate what he called DARPA's secret sauce, Tether said the junior officers at the core of the agency know that they have "the freedom to fail" - as long as they learn from their mistakes - a condition that gives them "the boldness to go for big ideas."