Software Toolbox Sponsors Robotic Vehicle Team
Desert Field Test of Robotic Vehicles Offers $2 Million Prize

Initially all testing will be done on an ATV platform. The ATV is highly accessible, manageable, and relatively expendable. An ATV could really be considered the minimum platform capable of achieving the GC05. The electronics suite will be placed in modularly on the front and back racks accompanied with a actuator module that attach's to the motions means using remote manipulators.

October 25, 2004 – Charlotte, NC: Team Juggernaut, designers of the unstoppable autonomous vehicle, announced that Software Toolbox Inc. (www.softwaretoolbox.com) will support its efforts to win a $2 million prize in a Defense Department research and development initiative aimed at advancing robotics technologies for future military use. The initiative, known as the DARPA Grand Challenge, is a field test of fully autonomous ground vehicles to be conducted in the Mojave Desert on October 8, 2005. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is offering the $2 million prize to the vehicle that completes the course the fastest within a 10-hour period.

The team will be utilizing Instrumentation ActiveX software components from Software Toolbox in the user interfaces on the computer software systems that will operate the vehicle. John Weber, President of Software Toolbox, Inc. said: "Someday, robotics technology will allow us to accomplish missions that now threaten our fighting forces. We are thrilled to have a chance to contribute to that effort – and to learn and develop innovations that could save lives on the battlefield." 

Troy Takach, Senior Managing Partner of DesignJug and Team Leader, added: "We are delighted to have Software Toolbox as part of our sponsorship team! Their technology will streamline our testing interfaces and make them much easier for our technicians to evaluate vehicle results. We are building a world class team comprised of professional, university, industry partners covering the areas of robotics, vision systems, artificial intelligence and military systems. Even before announcing it will compete in the DARPA Grand Challenge, Team Juggernaut had been hard at work designing and manufacturing a vehicle that travels with no human assistance over the course's rugged terrain in less than the 10 hour time limit. 

Next year's event will be the second running of the DARPA Grand Challenge. On March 13, 2004, 15 robotic vehicles attempted to navigate a challenging 142-mile route through the desert Southwest. DARPA's mission is to pursue R&D in technology areas in which the payoff is very high and where success may provide dramatic advances in military capabilities. For updates along the road to DARPA Grand Challenge 2005, please visit www.darpa.mil/grandchallenge.

About Software Toolbox

Headquartered in Charlotte, NC., Software Toolbox (www.softwaretoolbox.com) was founded in 1996 to address the need for a single source and point of contact for industrial automation users to find, evaluate, purchase, and get support for 3^rd party software products that complement industry leading automation software products. Software Toolbox offers hundreds of solutions across all major supplier lines in the industry and over 7,000 customers in 67 countries around the world. Its offerings include the widest single-source offering of OPC servers for Windows and Windows CE, .NET components, ActiveX controls, value-adding HMI add-ins, and developer tools for industrial automation users, OEMs, and systems integrators.

About DesignJug

Located in Salt Lake City, Utah, DesignJug was established by the departing founders of Parvus Corporation, a new school world leader in the implementation of embedded systems for medical, military, and light industrial applications. DesignJug focuses on the creation of high value electronic systems used to solve significant industry problems. DesignJug's new school approach, marries over 20 years of experience in ruggedized systems design and manufacture with contemporary technology and high volume disruptive thought.

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