For details "CLICK" the related heading

Devices competing to catch falling balloons

Design and construct one of the self-contained robots competing to catch falling balloons.

Two robots try to catch air filled balloons dropped from above, before they touch the floor. Five balloons are launched one by one and the robot that catches a balloon before the opponent wins a point.

    Robots, at all times, must fit in an upright cylinder, of diameter 30 cm, and height 40 cm.

    Touching, pushing or otherwise contacting the opponent is not allowed.

   Robots must be equipped with facilities to protect themselves from sensor interference that may originate from the other robot.

    Teams must provide a “sparring partner” for demonstration purposes.

Possible extra feature:

  Ability to detect a balloon touching the floor and preparing for the next balloon to be dropped.

(*) Issues related to common rules and standards to make a fair and safe game possible, such as robots’ shape and properties, size and properties of the balloons and method of launch, and issues related to vision and safety etc., will be resolved by a joint standards committee composed of representatives from teams undertaking the project.

Devices trying to score in each other's goals

Design and construct one of the two tele-operated robots trying to shoot and score in opponent’s goal.

In this game two robots, tele operated by a member of the design team, try to score by pushing or hitting a ball into the opponent’s goal, directly or indirectly. The operator remotely controls the robot (from a distance up to at least 30 meters) without actually monitoring the play-field with naked eye; the only means of monitoring the field is by means of a camera mounted on-board the robot. Naturally no wired connection to or from the robot is allowed.

The Game

  Player robots are free to move in their own half-field  only. They are not allowed to cross the center-line into the opponent’s half-field.

  Robots can hit, push or otherwise drive the ball but not grasp, scoop or otherwise carry it.

  Succesive contacts with the ball is allowed but the ball must be transferred to opponent’s half-field in no more than 20 seconds. Violations are to be penalized.

  The player scoring 2 goals more than the opponent wins the game.

  The game is started, upon command, with robots placed on their own goal-lines and the puck at the center of the field.

The playfield:

   The playfield is a

   regular hexagone on bare floor, with center-line and goal lines marked by “masking tape”, (Please no other types of self-stick tapes on the floor!)

   constructed from 6 sidewalls of 70-75 cm length each and

   two goals snugly fit at the opposite corners, while preserving symmetry, (see figure).

   Goals must be at least twice as wide as their defenders lateral dimensions.

   The ball is of diameter 30-45 mm (*)

   Every team is to design and provide

   a tele-operated robot (player),

   a ball,

   a “self” goal

   three of the 6 side-walls,

   and a dummy “opponent robot” for demonstration and sparring purposes.

(*) Common standards on players, goals, sidewalls, the ball etc., to be satisfied to facilitate an equitable game are to be decided upon by a joint standards committee, composed of representatives of teams undertaking the project.

Vehicles chasing each other around a closed course with varying properties

Design and construct one of the two self contained robots, chasing to catch and tag each other on a closed path with varying width.

The race course is the area between two concentric ellipses as shown in the figure with wide and narrow sections, and is elevated from the floor by 10-20 mm. Robots try to stay on the path without falling off the race course (or touching the floor) and still go fast enough to catch up with the opponent and “tag”.

The race is completed when one of the robots reaches from the back, within 5cm of the other, and both robots come to a mutual agreement by a handshake protocol.

The elevated path should carry no marks or signs except only its color(*) to help distinguish it from the floor.

  Initially the two robots are placed at arbitrary but diametrically opposite starting points A and B, and the action is started simultaneously by a team member, upon command.

  Robots should be capable of handling the task in both (cw/ccw) directions, complete one full turn around the course in at most 20 seconds and their performance should not be affected drastically by artificially introduced small disturbances such as small bumps or rough surface on the racecourse.

  Use of cameras overlooking the field is not allowed; all instrumentation must be on-board the robot.

  Utmost precaution must be taken to avoid collisions.

(*) Common standards on players, and the race course, to be satisfied to facilitate an equitable competition, are to be decided upon by a joint standards committee, composed of representatives of teams undertaking the project.

Devices trying to extract the plan of their surroundings

Design and construct one of the two self contained devices, competing to extract and display a better plan of a field containing arbitrarily placed objects, in terms of their type, location, size and orientation.

Devices separately explore the playfield and by taking necessary actions, they try to locate and identify the objects in the field, in terms of their position, size and orientation and display the resulting field plan on a computer screen. The side with a better plan of the field in minimum time wins.

Action will take place on bare floor, surrounded by walls composed of 50 cm long wall pieces of the same height as the objects. The objects are to be arbitrarily placed inside the play field.

   In this project objects in the field are limited to

     Cylinders of 10 cm diameter,

     Cylinders of 5 cm diameter,

     Square prisms with 7 cm edge length,

     Prisms with an equilateral triangular base of 8 cm edge length.

The height of the objects will be agreed upon (*).

  All objects and walls must be of the same commonly accepted(*) color.

  Any cameras or other sensing devices must be on board the device. No external sensors are allowed.

  Robots should fit in an upright cylinder, 25 cm in diameter and height not higher than that of the blocks.

 No communication is allowed between the device and the outside world, except for the one-way communication from the robot to a computer, for on-screen display purposes.

 The shape of the field can be any convex shape that could be constructed from 12 wall blocks.

 Each team must provide at least 6 wall pieces and 8 objects (2 pieces from each type) in accordance with accepted standards(*).

Possible extra features:

  Ability to handle “non-standard” objects.

(*) Common standards to be satisfied to facilitate a fair competition, such as the physical properties of the wall pieces and blocks (color, weight, height, material etc.) and the like are to be decided upon by a joint standards committee, composed of representatives of teams undertaking the project.