5. The Debris Field

Tires, 2 X 4's and hay bales await vehicles in the debris field.

A debris field filled with tires, pieces of wood and bales of hay disabled a few of the smaller vehicles, but most of the larger ones ran through without a problem. On one of the Blue Team's later runs, GhostRider made it to the debris field and was knocked over by a 2 X 4. The motorcycle tried to get back up, but the self-righting struts were propped up against a tire.

Indy Robot Racing Team's IRV vehicle gets stuck on some hay. The catalytic converter ignites the hay bale.

Indy Robot Racing Team's IRV was having a good run until it went into the debris field. A navigation error made the vehicle swerve onto some hay bales. The hot catalytic converter ignited the bale, but DARPA officials didn't notice it at first. I heard several witnesses yell FIRE and after about thirty seconds the fire crews got the hint and rushed in with fire extinguishers. Team officials say that a fluid reservoir and some wires were burned.

While the cement and metal walls are solid and dense objects, the debris field is a mass of small obstacles. The big vehicles do see the obstacle, but the successful teams have written their software to ignore anything below a certain height.