Symbol P_finish
inish is a part of this expression. Its role is fixed by the surrounding article and by the operations shown in the formula.
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Why this formula appears here
The arithmetic behind that result is worth making explicit, because it explains why the next eighteen months mattered more than the raw distance suggests. If a course of length L miles must be driven without a mission-ending error, and a vehicle’s probability of such an error is q per mile and roughly independent from one mile to the next, the probability of finishing the course is approximately . Over a 142-mile course, even a per-mile reliability of 99 percent yields a finishing probability under 25 percent, and the 2004 fleet did not come close to that bar. This is illustrative arithmetic rather than a number drawn from any cited study, but it frames what changed by…
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Symbol q
q is a part of this expression. Its role is fixed by the surrounding article and by the operations shown in the formula.
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L is a part of this expression. Its role is fixed by the surrounding article and by the operations shown in the formula.
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Its accuracy depends on the assumptions and range of use described in the article.
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Equation 3 · Robotics & Embodied AI
From Origins to Frontier: A History of Robotics and Embodied AI
This equation gives an approximation: it relates the quantities while allowing an approximation.
The arithmetic behind that result is worth making explicit, because it explains why the next eighteen months mattered more than the raw distance suggests. If a course of length L miles must be driven without a mission-ending error, and a vehicle’s probability of such an error is q per mile and roughly independent from one mile to the next, the probability of finishing the course is approximately . Over a 142-mile course, even a per-mile reliability of 99 percent yields a finishing probability under 25 percent, and the 2004 fleet did not come close to that bar. This is illustrative arithmetic rather than a number drawn from any cited study, but it frames what changed by…
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