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CORVALLIS - A team of engineering students from Oregon State University has cleared its first hurdle in a quest for a $2 million prize that the U.S. Department of Defense offers to any team that can design and build an autonomous robotic vehicle capable of successfully navigating a grueling, 175-mile course across a Southwest desert without a driver or any human intervention, including remote control.

The OSU-based team is one of only 118 selected for site visits in early May by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, a research and development unit of the U.S. Department of Defense. The teams were selected for site visits based on demonstration video and vehicle specifications from 195 race registrants, 35 of them university-based, from 37 states and three foreign countries.

The OSU-based team, called Oregon WAVE (Willamette Valley Autonomous Vehicle Enterprise), is the only team from Oregon. It's composed of OSU faculty, students and local engineering professionals, under the leadership of Belinda Batten, head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering.

"Being selected for a site visit means we're well on our way," Batten said. "It's very exciting and now we're looking to expand our partnerships with regional engineering professionals who want to help us take the Oregon WAVE vehicle across the final finish line."

The project is challenging, Batten says, not only because the course will feature a range of obstacles - including ditches, standing water, boulders, construction equipment, power line towers, barbed wire fences, and cattle guards - but also because the vehicles must make all navigational decisions completely on their own, based on data provided by their onboard sensors.

"Fortunately, we have a wealth of engineering and electronics expertise here in Oregon, both at the OSU College of Engineering and at our partner firms like Hewlett-Packard, Mentor Graphics, Alpha Omega, and Northwest Tech Ventures," Batten said. "By partnering, we're designing a winning vehicle."

The Oregon WAVE team, which involves more than 30 OSU students and faculty, is modifying an existing vehicle built by OSU engineering students that has a proven track record in off-road conditions. The OSU 2003 SAE Mini-Baja car placed second in the 2003 Mini-Baja West endurance race, and first in the 2004 race. Modifications include terrain sensors, vision systems, servo controlled steering, and other features, including technology developed in OSU's TekBots robotic program.

The vehicle design, including mechanical and electronic systems, is an integral part of the hands-on curriculum for students studying mechanical engineering and electrical and computer engineering at Oregon State.

Results of the site visits will be used to invite the top 40 teams to the Grand Challenge National Qualification Event in September at the California Speedway in Fontana, Calif. Qualifying teams will then run the Grand Challenge course in October.

For more information and to view video footage of the Oregon WAVE vehicle, visit the team's website at: http://www.oregonstate.edu/grandchallenge.