Anyone who went to Carnegie Mellon in the past 15-20 years is well-aware of the school’s proficiencies in robotics (despite the fact that they put “Athletics” as the fourth link on the home page – huh?).  Heck, my old roommate (and great friend) once even blew one up, and built another one that was really really really good at looking at trees. Ah, fun robotics.

The annual DARPA challenge for unmanned vehicles pits a bunch of teams against each other, with the race to get an autonomous vehicle from one place to another.  Despite years and years of research, there still tends to be a lot more breakdowns than completions.  This weekend, they’re at it again, and all I can say is Go Tartans Go!

It’s always been a little tricky rooting for a, er, well, piece of cloth as a mascot.   At least it’s not the Carnegie Mellon Bagpipers…