Kat-5 (vehicle)

Kat-5 is an autonomous vehicle created by Team Gray, an organization comprising employees from The Gray Insurance Company and students from Tulane University's School of Engineering, for the 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge.

The vehicle

Kat-5 is a 2005 Ford Escape Hybrid modified with the sensors and actuators needed for autonomous operation. It has an INS/GPS (Inertial Navigation System/Global Positioning System) from Oxford Technical Solutions and LIDAR units from SICK and Riegl. Kat-5 finished the 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge and placed fourth with a time of 7 hours, 30 minutes, only 37 minutes behind Stanley, the winner of the competition. Kat-5 is powered by almost 100% pure Java and runs both the Mac OS X and Linux operating systems.

Kat-5 uses oscillating LIDARs and information from the INS/GPS unit to create a picture of the surrounding environment. This information is then used to build a path for the vehicle to follow. Kat-5's primary electrical system, used to run the computers and drive-by-wire system, is powered by the standard electrical system of the vehicle while the 24-volt system, used to power the LIDAR sensors, is powered by six solar panels on the roof platform of the vehicle.

Vehicle

A vehicle (from Latin: vehiculum) is a mobile machine that transports people or cargo. Most often, vehicles are manufactured, such as wagons, bicycles, motor vehicles (motorcycles, cars, trucks, buses), railed vehicles (trains, trams), watercraft (ships, boats), aircraft and spacecraft.

Land vehicles are classified broadly by what is used to apply steering and drive forces against the ground: wheeled, tracked, railed or skied. ISO 3833-1977 is the standard, also internationally used in legislation, for road vehicles types, terms and definitions.

History of vehicles

Vehicle (song)

"Vehicle" is the one-hit wonder success for the Chicago-based band The Ides of March. It rose to number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart the week of May 23, 1970. It is purported to be the fastest selling single in Warner Bros. Records history.

Written and sung by Jim Peterik, the song features a distinctive horn section riff that is still popular today. The song is often mistaken for the horn driven sound of Blood, Sweat and Tears which was popular in the same time range. Peterik wrote "Vehicle" as a joke.

Fourteen seconds of the completed "Vehicle" master tape (primarily the guitar solo) was accidentally erased in the recording studio. The missing section was spliced in from a previously discarded take.

The song was used in a 2014 commercial for Hardee's restaurants.

Covers

Star vehicle

In the film industry, a star vehicle is a movie, play, TV series, or other production that enhances an actor's career. 'Vehicles' are most commonly produced when a young or inexperienced actor has signed a long-term contract with a major studio. By showcasing the actor's talents, the vehicle is an attempt at creating a bankable star. In some cases, an actor may produce their own 'star vehicle' as self-promotion.

One of the earliest and best-documented examples is The Wizard of Oz (1939), which MGM centered on then-teenaged Judy Garland. The DVD notes give extensive film and radio examples of the publicity campaign undertaken to promote the movie and hype Garland's singing and acting talents.

With the demise of the studio system, star vehicles are less common in the movie business, although they continue to appear occasionally (e.g. Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman, The Rock's The Scorpion King, or more recently Miley Cyrus' The Last Song). At times, one film can serve as the star vehicle for several actors. They remain common in television, where sitcoms routinely function as vehicles for stand-up comedians. Welcome Back, Kotter, The Cosby Show, Roseanne, Seinfeld, Home Improvement, George Lopez, Everybody Loves Raymond, Everybody Hates Chris, and The Bernie Mac Show are some notable examples from the United States of America.

Kat

Kat is a common nickname for the feminine given name Katherine, Kathleen, Katarina, Katrina, Kathryn, and variations.

Kat or KAT may also refer to:

People

Individuals

Fictional

Louanne Katraine

Louanne Katraine (callsign "Kat") is a fictional character from the reimagined Battlestar Galactica television series, portrayed by Luciana Carro.

Character biography

In her first appearance in the series, Kat is a rookie Viper pilot aboard the Battlestar Galactica, part of a group being trained by then Lieutenant Kara Thrace (Starbuck). Although a rookie, she is sharp and talented, and quickly becomes a hot-shot pilot, taking part in a vital operation to attack a Cylon tylium refinery base.

As the fatigue and stress of weeks of continuous duty without relief mount, Kat turns to stimulants to keep her senses sharp. Ultimately, she overdoses on stims, becomes hysterical, and finds herself unable to safely land her Viper. She is talked down into a near crash-landing by her former instructor, Starbuck, and is temporarily hospitalized.

After Captain Lee "Apollo" Adama and Starbuck are transferred to the Battlestar Pegasus by Admiral Helena Cain, Kat becomes Galactica's senior pilot, leading the Galactica Air Wing in what amounts to a game of "chicken" with the Pegasus Air Wing.

Kato

Surname

Katō, Kato or Katou (加藤, characters for "add/increase" and "wisteria") is the 11th most common Japanese surname. Notable people with the surname include: