The Portland chapter of the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society will be holding a new robot contest this year. Officially they're calling it the Mobile Robotics Software Challenge. Unofficially, it's known as the egnellahC dnarG APRAD. Why? Because it's the DARPA Grand Challenge in reverse. "Instead of using a supplied set of coordinates to determine the path of an autonomous vehicle, you will supply a system containing a computer and sensors that will be placed on top of a mobile robot. The robot will transport your system along an unknown trajectory for 10 minutes. From observations your system will generate a listing of the trajectory of the robot." No GPS or inertial sensors will be allowed. The competition will take place on June 24, 2006. More details can be found on the event page. Sounds like fun.