AWESOM-O 2007 was the 5th autonomous ground vehicle (AGV) from the University of Minnesota to enter IGVC. The last time the University of Minnesota attended IGVC was 2005, with the G2 AGV. Awesom-O 2007 was almost an entirely new vehicle to IGVC. The software has been completely rewritten from the 2005 team and a new vehicle chassis has been built. There are also new mechanical and electronic components. Basically, the only thing left from G2 are the motors and motion control hardware!

AWESOM-O's new vehicle frame focuses on a small footprint and increased mobility. The robot maneuvers with two independently driven front wheels and rear dual caster wheels. The rear dual caster wheels improve mobility by reducing the tire forces needed to turn the vehicle. This was a major problem for the G2 and was addressed in the design of AWESOM-O.

All of the sensors for AWESOM-O were reused from the 2005 vehicle. The sensors include: a SICK Laser Measurment System (LMS), Trimble differential GPS unit, Honeywell magnetic compass, Canon Optura 50 camera, and optical encoders.

The Sick LMS is used to detect three dimensional obstacles. It can detect obstacles as far as 50 meters away and can produce ten 180 degree scans a second at one degree resolution.

Global position information is provided to AWESOM-O by a Trimble AG-124 DGPS unit. The unit receives RTCM beacon correction signals provided by the US Coast Guard to correct for errors in GPS signals passing through atmospheric interference. With the correction signals the position information is accurate to less than one meter and under favorable conditions is accurate to less than two feet.

The compass was used to acquire the vehicles heading for the navigation challenge, and the camera provided the video for image processing.The processed video data provided the location of the lane boundaries during the autonomous challenge.

AWESOM-O proved to be a an advancement in the U of M's impact on IGVC by taking second place in the autonomous challenge and fourth in the navigation challenge.