iQ MAGAZINE

At the Gray Insurance Company, a small, family-owned high-risk worker's compensation specialty insurer in Metairie, Louisiana, the IT department's normal day means ensuring that data flows properly or that claims checks are in the mail. Creating an entry for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Grand Challenge 2005, a 132-mile off-road race for unmanned vehicles, is anything but status quo.

Yet "Team Gray" overcame inexperience and disruptions caused by Hurricane Katrina to enter the race and finish fourth, just 37 minutes behind winner Stanford University. (Only 5 of the 23 competitors even finished the race.)

Robotics and artificial intelligence weren't even on the Gray agenda months before the October 2005 race, according to Paul Trepagnier, Gray's software development manager. Team Gray didn't even get its hands on a vehicle, the Ford Escape Hybrid they named Kat-5, until February 2005. And when Katrina hit land five weeks before the race, Team Gray's headquarters and the homes of several team members were cut off for several weeks, forcing the team to finish preparations in an empty warehouse.

Eric Gray, who owns the company with his father and brothers, read about the race in Popular Science magazine. After his brother Michael read the same article, both had the same idea: Why not try it?

The Grays enlisted the help of the firm's IT staff, including Trepagnier, manager of information services Carl Schneider, CIO Keith Goeller, and three students from Tulane University's School of Science and Engineering. "I was the first one on the record to say it was impossible," Trepagnier admits with a laugh. "But Eric and Michael were very persistent."

Team members had to master several subjects, including artificial intelligence and video game programming, but they didn't have to study how to get the various systems in the car to communicate: Gray had recently completely rebuilt the network that links its 14 branch offices, using Cisco Systems equipment.

They used in the car what they learned from that project, installing a Cisco Catalyst 2955 Switch, designed for rugged conditions, in the heart of Kat-5. "Because it was a Cisco switch, we already knew how to program it," Schneider says. "It mainly controlled data traffic flow, prioritizing all the different data on the Kat-5 network. The Cisco switch served as Kat-5's central nervous system."

DARPA's Ron Kurjanowicz, who served as program manager for the Grand Challenge 2005, says Team Gray demonstrated special talent for overcoming adversity. "While all eyes were watching the more well-known teams, Team Gray kept on going," Kurjanowicz says. "This is a great example of what the Department of Defense is looking for, getting more access to people with bright ideas."

As a result of its Grand Challenge success, Gray Insurance has started a new company, called GrayMatter, to develop autonomous vehicles. "We're looking forward to the Grand Challenge 2007, which will be in an urban environment," Trepagnier says. "We know we can compete; now we want to win."

iQ Magazine, Third Quarter 2006