Jared Soares | The Roanoke Times

Victor Tango team members David Van Covern, Patrick Currier and Aaron Dalton (left to right) go over a software update at the team's garage at the Virginia Tech Foundation. The team of Virginia Tech students, faculty and researchers are teaming up to compete in a national autonomous vehicle competition later this month in Victorville, Calif.

Jared Soares | The Roanoke Times

Patrick Currier, Victor Tango team member amd Virginia Tech Ph.D. student in mechanical engineering, tests a software update that controls the autonomous vehicle. "We're getting there but we've got a lot of work to do in the next two weeks," he said.

BLACKSBURG -- Three weeks from now, Odin will venture on his own into the big city.

For about a year, his parents have been preparing him for this, teaching him to follow the road, avoid other vehicles and obey traffic signals. It has been a lot of work, but he has proved himself to be reliable and well-behaved.

But Odin's parents -- Virginia Tech students and faculty and engineers with TORC Technologies -- have been watching the 2005 Ford hybrid Escape every step of the way. That will all change Oct. 26.

That's the first day of the semifinals of the DARPA Urban Challenge, an autonomous-vehicle competition sponsored by the U.S. Department of Defense in Victorville, Calif.

DARPA, which stands for Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, lists 35 teams in the competition, both inside and outside academe. Of those 35, about 20 will stay in Victorville to compete in the finals Nov. 3.

Teams from around the world are vying for a $2 million prize given for winning the race, which requires an unmanned vehicle to navigate an obstacle course resembling a city, complete with stop signs and other cars. The autonomous vehicles' movement is guided by computer programs, not remote control.

While Odin has passed several tests, including a site visit by DARPA to qualify for the semifinals, the vehicle has never left the sight of its Team Victor Tango creators. At least one of the three courses Odin will try to navigate in the semifinals is long enough that Victor Tango members will lose sight of the $400,000 machine. DARPA officials will give them a program to install in Odin so the vehicle knows where to go.

"They'll hand us the files, we'll load them in, and then we'll stand back," said Patrick Currier, a graduate student in mechanical engineering. "We'll send it off and have to hope it comes back."

Over the past year team members have been running programs and testing and installing sensory equipment on Odin, named after the chief god of Norse mythology. Odin was known as a god of traveling who had a willingness to make sacrifices to gain wisdom.

Alfred Wicks, a mechanical engineering professor and a faculty adviser for the project, said the roughly 20 students on the team have put in long hours, working nights and weekends, forgoing the social life enjoyed by other students.

"While some of the students have been downtown, these guys have been working," he said. "These guys are just absolutely super."

Wicks likes the team's chances, but the field of competitors is impressive. Because the competition is open to anyone, not just college students, he likened the matchup to the Tech football team's facing NFL competition.

"These guys are doing cutting-edge technology," he said.

The favorite is a Stanford University team, led by renowned autonomous-vehicle navigations expert Sebastian Thrun. Stanford won the last DARPA challenge, an autonomous-vehicle race across the desert in 2004 near Barstow, Calif.

Team Victor Tango had two vehicles in that competition that finished eighth and ninth.

While most of the team members competed in that race, navigating through an urban obstacle course presents entirely new challenges. Possible obstacles Odin will face include the basics of intersections and moving vehicles to more unusual scenarios such as stalled vehicles and construction that blocks off roads.

Odin will be sharing the road with other autonomous vehicles in the competition as well.

"There's the potential for some autonomous collisions," Currier said.

Many things people take for granted when driving are complicated to program into software that can control the movement of a vehicle, Currier said.

"If you go out and drive down the road and you see another car, you're not going to think twice to identify that it is a car," he said. "And then you notice, 'Oh, it's in the other lane, therefore it's probably going to do this.' The amount of processing it takes on our sensor data to achieve that same result is enormous."

Armed with laser sensors on its front, back and roof, as well as cameras and a Global Positioning System antenna on its roof that is accurate to within 10 centimeters, the vehicle can sense objects all around it. It knows exactly where it is located as it moves down a road. Computers installed in the vehicle convert that information to real movement -- stops, starts and turns.

"Software is really the key focus of this challenge," said mechanical engineering graduate student David Van Covern.

Minor things, such as tall grass hanging over the edge of a road or another vehicle driving slightly out of its lane, can present major problems when interpreted by a computer program. Much of the most recent work has been spent testing the vehicle and troubleshooting details that could trip up Odin in the competition.

The military is interested in the technology because it could allow for transporting goods through dangerous areas without putting people at risk. Van Covern said other potential uses for the technology include preventing crashes caused by people falling asleep behind the wheel.

The team anticipates some stressful moments in California. TORC engineer and Tech graduate Chris Terwelp compared the uncertainty of the last DARPA challenge with sending a child off to high school.

But they hope all the hours spent working on Odin inside the new parking garage at University City Mall will pay off this year.

"Hopefully we'll go out there, we'll kick back and watch it drive," Currier said.