Conference AXMEDIS 2005, Florence (Italy)

The First AXMEDIS Conference took place in Florence, Italy, from November 29 - December 2, 2005.

Firenze, Duomo. 

Firenze, Ponte Vecchio 

Another Visit in Vienna, November 2005

To celebrate the achievements in the DARPA Grand Challenge 2005, the Austrian company ARC Seibersdorf hosted a "Special Event" at their location in the Tech Gate Vienna and invited me to give a talk there on the events that led to the participation of ARC Seibersdorf in our Team SciAutonics.

The DARPA Grand Challenge 2005

The DARPA Grand Challenge is a competition of autonomous ground vehicles. A prize of $2 Million was awarded to the team who would build a vehicle that could drive through a given route through the desert - without any driver or any remote control. The first Grand Challenge had taken place in March 2004, and on October 8 the 2nd comptetition was organized.

Our team SciAutonics, managed by team leader John Porter, participated in 2005 for the second time with the vehicle RASCAL. The team improved the performance of RASCAL by a factor of more than 20: instead of 0.75 miles in 2004, the vehicle this year drove a stunning distance of 16 miles.

The winner of this competition was the team from Stanford University, under the leadership of Prof. Sebastian Thrun. Congratulations to their remarkable achievement!

SciAutonics, LLC, as a company will continue to work in the autonomous vehicle market.

Conference ISMAR 2005, Vienna

The ISMAR 2005 conference this year took place in Vienna, Austria, October 5-8.

Steam in Northern England

Here in North England is basically the birthplace of the industrial age. James Watt invented the steam engine, and George Stephenson built railways. Here is a lot of cultural heritage in this area, with many stream trains running on schedules during weekends.

A real steam train, between Pickering and Grosmont, running on one of the very first railroad routes designed by George Stephenson in 1831.

Steam train waiting in station.

Steam train goes through the North York Moor.

Ruins of Rievaulx Abbey.

Ruins of Fountain Abbey near Ripon. 

Sutton Bank, the steep incline on the west side of the North York Moors area. On the plateau on the left, there is an aiport located. 

Robin Hood Bay. 

The entrance to the Whitby harbor. 

The spooky ruins of the Whitby Abbey. 

View over the bay near Whitby, with old cemetary in the front. 

Steep steps up to the Whitby Abbey, where Bram Stoker set a part of his novel "Dracula". 

Entrance into the Whitby harbor, with the ruins of the Whitby Abbey on top of the hill. 

The harbor town of Whitby. 

Landscape in the North York Moors National Park. 

Entrance to the beach at Withernsea. 

The thin peninsula "Spurn Head" which separates the Humber Bay (left) from the North Sea (right). The viewing direction is towards North.

Humber Bay near Hull. 

A pub at the shore in Hull. 

Kirkstall Abbey, one of the many abbeys in ruins here in this area, as a consequence of Henry VIII's closure of the monestaries in the 16th century. 

There are many Victorian buildings in Leeds. 

Leeds Civic Center. The Leeds Metropolitan University campus is behind this building (not visible) 

Leeds Town Hall in the city center. 

Leeds Metropolitan University: Civic Quarter, near the city center. This is where my office is located.