KatysBlog

We just got back from CMU’s Family Weekend with
Jessica.
One of the highlights of our Pittsburgh, PA visit was seeing the Chihuly glass
installation at the 1892
Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens. Phipps is next to the CMU campus.
On our final college tour,
Jessica and I visited Phipps last Spring as the conservatory was preparing for the
exhibit. Chihuly at Phipps only runs through 11 November, so we were lucky to see
both ends of the show: set up and full growth. Some of Phipps’ gardens
are inside the big glass building but others are outside. The tactile
experience of moving from the moist warm conservatory into the cold autumn air
and then back inside was part of the experience that pictures can’t record.

I have seen Dale Chihuly’s
work before but the interaction of the living plants with his
large scale glass forms made this exhibit awesome. We tried to
see it at night but tickets were sold out – we only got to see the
entry dome chandelier. We went back on Sunday and
were lucky to be there on the day that the
Pittsburgh Garden Railway Society was
showing off their newly installed garden railway. Some of our photos
are below. To see more photos, check out

Chihuly’s web site.

The interaction of the plants and glass and
light were such a delight that John and I were squabbling over who got to
take pictures. It turned out to be an overcast day which made for
interesting reflections in the water features. It would have been good
to see it on a bright day and at night too (but I am happy to have
seen it at all). The only disappointment was the health of the cacti
and succulents in Phipps’ Desert Room. My garden has better specimens of
most of those plants! (OK, maybe I don’t really mind that my cacti
are better than Phipps’…) My favorite forms were the blue herons
in the Japanese Courtyard Garden. Lovely!

Where possible below, I have used Chihuly’s own names
for the glass forms. I was pleased to see the following signs at the
start of the walk through the conservatory: “The artist permits and
encourages photography of the artwork in this exhibition for educational
and non-commercial use only” and “This exhibition is organized by
Phipps in cooperation with Dale Chihuly. The artwork displayed is
protected by copyright and any copying is expressly prohibited.”
It is good to see an artist who knows his copyright law.

Phipps entry flags:

New Phipps Garden Railway (outside):

Paul and the Garden Railway:

Chihuly chandelier at night:

Chihuly chandelier reflections:

Chihuly chandelier during the day:

Chihuly glass and plants:

Chihuly – Serpentine Room Amber Cattails:

Chihuly – Orchid Room Ikebana:

Chihuly – glass among the plants:

Chihuly – Stove Room Fiori Sun with real flower:

Chihuly – Fern Room Red Reeds:

Chihuly – glass flowers and leaves:

Chihuly – glowing blue tumbleweeds:

Chihuly – glass Float with goldfish:

Chihuly – glass shoots and leaves:

Sunken Garden Macchia:

Chihuly – Desert Room Neodymium Reeds, gold star:

Japanese Courtyard Garden blue herons (outside):

Japanese Courtyard Garden blue herons, goldfish, reflections:

Japanese Courtyard Garden blue heron reflections:

Chihuly – vine growing on blue reed:

Jessica and Chihuly Rose Crystal Tower (outside):

John and Jessica in the Fern Room (inside):

Jessica and Paul, Chihuly Rose Crystal Tower (outside):

Chihuly – fountain, Yellow Herons (outside):

Chihuly – Victoria Room Persians in pond, reflections:

Chihuly – East Room Cobalt Fiori, Reeds, Marlins, Floats:

Chihuly – Palm Court Tower and 1892 Plaque:

Chihuly – South Conservatory Float Boat:

Images Copyright 2007 by Katy Dickinson and John Plocher

We were delighted to hear that the CMU robot car “Boss”

won the DARPA Urban Challenge last weekend. We watched several
hours of the race from Baker Hall at CMU on

3 November 2007 during our Parents’ Weekend visit with
Jessica. Even though
Stanford University’s “Junior” car crossed the finish line first with CMU
Tartan Racing a few minutes behind, since the cars had staggered
start times, CMU’s “Boss” actually finished the course about 20 minutes ahead of
the second-place Stanford. By lunchtime yesterday,
we were told that CMU was the probable winner on points. Then, DARPA’s

press release yesterday confirmed that CMU’s “Boss” car had turned in the
top performance points and won the $2 million cash prize as the first-place winner.
CMU’s victory over the 2005 race winner Stanford was sweet.

The race was not just about speed since the bots had six hours to navigate over 60 miles
of urban streets in Victorville following California driving laws, operating in a
safe and stable manner, and completing three missions with six parts each. Good
driving counted. DARPA’s
description of the Urban Challenge:

The DARPA Urban Challenge is an autonomous vehicle research and development program
with the goal of developing technology that will keep warfighters off the battlefield
and out of harm’s way. The Urban Challenge features autonomous ground vehicles
maneuvering in a mock city environment, executing simulated military supply missions
while merging into moving traffic, navigating traffic circles, negotiating busy
intersections, and avoiding obstacles. …
This program is an outgrowth of two previous DARPA Grand Challenge autonomous vehicle competitions. The first Grand Challenge event was held in March 2004 and featured a 142-mile desert course. Fifteen autonomous ground vehicles attempted the course and no vehicle finished. In the 2005 Grand Challenge, four autonomous vehicles successfully completed a 132-mile desert route under the required 10-hour limit, and DARPA awarded a $2 million prize to “Stanley” from Stanford University.

Despite the military context of the race itself, and the inclusion of two cars
from Germany in the
11 finalists, all six cars which finished the Urban Challenge were from
US universities: CMU, Stanford, Virginia Tech, Cornell, Univ. of Pennsylvania and
Lehigh University, and MIT.

John and Paul and I are here in Pittsburgh, PA, visiting Jessica
during CMU’s Family Weekend. Among other activities, we spent
several hours in Baker Hall watching a

live feed of the

2007 DARPA Urban Challenge. CMU’s robot car
Tartan Racing Boss
(#19) came in just behind Stanford U’s bot “Junior” (#3)
over the finish line in Victorville, CA. However, the final score
is not just based on speed completing the 6-parts of each of the 3
missions. We will know at 11 am tomorrow which team won. Two years
ago in the DARPA Grand Challenge, Stanford was first and CMU
second.

The Baker Hall auditorium was full of students and parents and faculty,
many wearing CMU Robotics shirts. Every time “The Boss” was mentioned
or shown on the big screen, there were cheers. Of the

11 finalists, 6 were expected to finish but only 3 had actually
crossed the line when we went off to find dinner.

The commentators were very clear on the differences they saw between the
6 final race contestants. One said that it was easy to forget that the
bots were empty – their behavior was so human, they didn’t seem
like machines. Each of the cars developed nicknames in addition
to their numbers and official names. Some of the remarks we heard
from the commentators:

• #3 Stanford University’s “Junior” – clean behavior, just
  right
• #19 CMU’s “The Boss” Tartan Racing – crisp and flashy, brash,
  clean and effective
• #32 Virginia Tech’s “Odin” Victor Tango – a sleeper,
  gentler
• #79 MIT’s “Talos” – a little spastic, agressive, a bully, lurching
• #26 Cornell’s “Skynet” – crisp and flashy
• #74 University of Pennsylvania and Lehigh University’s
  “Little Ben” Ben Franklin – slow, sluggish, careful

Each of the car development teams had different objectives in
creating their bot. None of the cars created primarily for military
use made it into the final six. CMU’s team description includes: “General Motors, the world’s largest automaker, is aboard for the future of driver safety. CAT, the world’s largest equipment producer, is committed to the future of worksite automation. CMU is driven to push the technical limits of driverless machines.”

The race commentators tried to be objective; however, it felt like they
were most impressed by the Stanford and CMU bots, most affectionate
toward Little Ben, and just irritated by the pushy MIT bot with its
40 processors. The MIT car always went as fast as it could but had
at least two accidents (one with the Cornell car), which lead to
the comment that it was so smart
it was confusing itself. We had a fun time watching the race.