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To build a computer controlled Robot that can
move through a model floor plan structure of a
house, find a lit candle and then extinguish it
in the shortest time subject to a few operating
factors (see Scoring). This is
meant to simulate the real-world operation of a
Robot performing a fire security function in a
actual home. The candle represents a fire which
has started in the home and which the Robot must
find and then extinguish.
The official floor plan structure contest area
is shown in Figure 1.
This is what the contest structure will look
like. This is not a maze contest where the Robot
has to figure out how to move through the
structure. The design of the structure will be
known before hand (see Figure
1) and the goal is to find and extinguish the
candle as quickly as possible. However, just like
in the real world where there is always a measure
of uncertainty in any information, the dimensions
in the Figure 1 floor
plan are approximations. The actual dimensions
may vary up to as much as an inch from the given
values. Welcome to operating Robots in the Real
World.
The walls of the structure will be made of
wood and will be 13 inches high. The walls will
be painted with flat white paint. The floor of
the arena will be a smooth, wood surface painted
with flat black latex paint. Any seams in the
floor will be taped over and painted with the
same flat black paint. As noted in the Figure 1 floor plan, all
hallways and doorways to room will be 18 inches
wide. There will not be a door in the doorways,
just an 18 inch opening. There will be a white
1" wide line made with white tape or painted
on the floor across each doorway to indicate the
entrance to each room. The inner edge of the
walls at the doorways (the inside of the door
jam) may have a red rubber trim.
The floor of the arena will be black. But just
a note of warning that some Robots may use foam,
power or other substances to attack the candle
flame. Best efforts will be made to clean up
after each Robot, but there is no guarantee that
the floor will stay uniformly black throughout
the entire contest. The floor may also have small
(less then 1/8" diameter) yellow dots on it
to indicate the potential locations of candles
and furniture. Unless you are operating in the
Non-Dead-Reckoning mode (see Scoring),
the floor will be level with no ramps or stairs.
The Robot will start at the Home Circle
location marked by the H in a circle on the arena
floor plan (see Figure 1).
The actual Home Circle will be a solid white
circle without the H painted on the floor. The
12" diameter white Home Circle will be in
the center of the 18" hallway, so there will
be 3" of space between the edge of the Home
Circle and the walls. Therefore the center of the
Home Circle will be 9" from the either side
wall. Notice that on the arena floor plan in
Figure 1 there is a gap in the outer wall of the
arena behind the Home Circle. This part of the
wall is missing to allow contestants easier
access to their Robots in setting them up, but a
temporary wall can be put in this section if it
helps the Robot's operation. Robots may also use
any placement fixtures if they help the Robot
initially align itself in the Home Circle. The
Robot must start within the Home Circle, but once
started, it can go in any direction desired and
can go either horizontally or vertically in the
diagram shown in Figure 1.
Some of the corners of the arena may have
black, plastic connecting hardware which sticks
out about 1/2 inch from the walls. These may be
used to hold the arena structure together.
The ambient light level in the
contest area is impossible to determine until the
actual day of the contest. Contestants will be
given time on the contest day to make ambient
light level readings if necessary to calibrate
their Robot. The room will be lit by overhead
high pressure sodium vapor lights.
Once turned on, the Robot must be
self-controlled without any human intervention,
that is, these are to be computer controlled and
not manually controlled devices.
The Robot can bump into or touch the walls of
the arena as it travels, but it can not mark or
damage the walls in doing so. However there will
be a penalty for touching a wall. (See Penalties) The Robot can not leave
anything behind as it travels through the arena.
It can not make any marks on the floor of the
arena that aid in navigation as it travels. Any
Robot that deliberately, in the judges' opinion,
damages the contest arena (including the walls)
will be disqualified. This does not include any
accidental marks or scratches made in moving
around.
The Robot must, in the opinion of the official
judges, have found the candle before it attempts
to put it out. The Robot can not just flood the
arena structure with CO2 and put out the candle
out by accident.
The Robot must not use any destructive or
dangerous methods to put out the candle. It can
use such items as water, air, CO2, Halon, etc.,
but any method or material that is dangerous or
will damage the arena is prohibited. For example,
the Robot can not explode a firecracker and put
the candle out with the concussion. The Robot can
not knock the candle over to put it out.
It will be permissible to put out the candle
by blowing air on it. Although this is not a very
practical method of extinguishing a fire in the
real world, it will be allowed in this contest.
The candle can not be knocked over while it is
still lit. If a Robot accidentally knocks over a
candle after it has been put out, then the
Robot's trial run will still count, but there
will be a penalty. (See Penalties)
The candle will be mounted on a wooden base so
that it will not be easily knocked over by moving
air or water.
Any mess that a Robot makes (water, baking
soda, whipped cream, etc.) in its effort to put
out the candle will be cleaned up by the judges
to the best of their ability between trials.
Recent advances in the technology of
extinguishing a candle have allow some Robots in
past contests to put out the candle from more
then 2 feet away. This ability to put out the
candle from a relatively great distance runs
contrary to the contest goal of building
intelligent Robots that can truly find and zero
in on a flame. To try to turn the contest back to
its original track, the Robot must come within 12
inches of the candle, before it attempts to
extinguish the flame. There will be a white line
(1 inch thick) in a 12 inch radius circle on the
floor around the candle and the Robot must have
some part of its body within the circle before it
puts out the candle. The Robot can still shoot a
jet of CO2, but it must do by having some part of
its body within 12 inches of the candle. The
12" candle circle will NOT touch the white
line at the doorway. Please see the Special
Notices for any questions concerning this rule.
The maximum size of the Robot shall be
12.25" by 12.25" by 12.25". The
Robot can not look over the walls of the
structure and must never extend itself beyond
12.25 inches in any dimension. All Robots will be
carefully measured. Don't let your Robot be
disqualified because it is slightly over the
limit.
If the Robot has feelers to sense an object or
wall, the feelers must be counted as part of the
Robot's dimensions and can not extend beyond
12.25" from side to side.
If contestants want to add a flag, hat or
other purely decorative, non-functional items to
the Robot, they may do so as long as the item has
absolutely no effect on the operation of the
Robot.
There are no restrictions on the
weight of the Robot.
There are no restrictions on the
types of materials used in the construction of
the Robot.
The lit candle is supposed to represent a
small house fire that the Robot is attempting to
find and put out. The bottom of the candle flame
will be between 6 and 8 inches off the floor.
This height includes the height of the wooden
candle support base. The bottom of the candle
flame will start out at 8 inches above the floor
and when in the course of the contest's many
trials, it burns down to 6 inches above the
floor, it will be replaced by a new candle. The
candle used will be a standard approximately 1
inch thick white candle. The flame will be
visible from the side and not hidden by unmelted
wax as with thick candles. The exact height and
size of the flame is unknown and variable and
will be determined by the specific conditions of
candle and its surroundings. As along as the
candle is within the specifications outlined
above, the Robot is required to find the candle
no matter what the size of the flame is at that
particular moment.
The candle will be placed at random in one of
the room in the arena. The candle has an equal
chance of being in any of the 4 rooms in each of
the 3 trials that a Robot has. Hopefully the
candle will be placed in different rooms in each
trial to best test the Robot's operation, but it
might be possible for the candle to be in the
same room twice. If it happens that the candle is
placed in the same room for both the 1st and 2nd
trials, then we will make sure that it is not in
that room for the 3rd and last trial. Thus every
Robot will have the candle in at least 2 rooms
& maybe 3, during its 3 trials.
The candle will not be placed in a hallway,
but it might be placed just inside a doorway of a
room. However the front of the Robot will be able
to move at least 12 inches into the room before
it encounters the candle. The locations of the
candle used in last year's contest may not be the
same used in this year's contest.
The candle will be mounted on a wooden base
(3" x 3" x 1.25") painted flat
yellow. This base is used to keep the candle from
tipping over easily. It will be possible to knock
the candle over by bumping into it (which you
don't want to do - see Penalties),
but the candle will not fall over if it is merely
hit by a stream of air or water.
There is no restriction on the type of sensors
that can be used as long as they do not violate
any of the other rules or regulations.
Contestants are not allowed to place any
markers, beacons or reflectors on the walls or
floors to aid in the Robot's navigation.
Robot builders should be aware that many
modern film and video cameras transmit infrared
light as part of their automatic focusing
systems. Ambient lighting in the contest room may
also be a source of IR, visible and UV light. If
a Robot uses light sensors to find the candle or
detect walls or furniture, the builders should
take steps to prevent these light sources from
interfering with its operation.
The maximum electrical
requirements for any system needing electrical
connection will be 20 amps at 120 VAC. If your
Robot or computer needs electricity - bring
plenty of long grounded extension cords and
outlet strips.
If the Robot is connected to an
external computer system for instructions and/or
power make sure that the cable is long enough for
the Robot to get to all areas of the arena. The
cable can either be dragged behind the Robot as
it travels through the structure or it can be
held above the walls by one of the impartial
contest officials.
The Robots will be randomly assigned numbers
to determine the order in which they will compete
in the contest. Each Robot will make a run in the
arena in the order in which it is assigned. After
every Robot has made its first run, then the
whole process will begin again for the second
run. In other words, the Robots will compete
consecutively and when everyone is done with
their first attempt, then the whole process will
repeat for the second and finally third attempts.
Contestants will have time between their runs
to make any adjustments, modifications or repairs
to their Robot, but once the Robot before them
has completed its run, then they will have 1
minute to get their Robot in the arena and
started on its run. Any Robot that is not ready
to run after 1 minute will forfeit it's chance at
that trial. It may still compete in any other
runs that are left. Once assigned, the order of
running will not be changed. If you are not
ready, then you've missed your turn. The time
between turns is undetermined and is controlled
by how long the other competitors take to
complete their runs.
Once the Robot is ready, the location of the
candle and any furniture, if necessary, shall be
determined and the candle and the furniture shall
be put in the proper locations.
The contestants will show a judge how to
actuate the Robot and then the judge will
actually press whatever buttons necessary to
start the Robot.
There will be two different divisions. An IEEE
Student division and an Open division for the
general public. There will be awards and prizes
given for both divisions.
The Robot with the lowest operating score will
be the winner. There are 4 different factors
which can effect the final score depending on
which of the operating modes the contestants
choose for their Robot. The Operating Score (OS)
will be determined by multiplying the Time Score
(TS) by the Operating Mode Factors.
The basic method of determining the Operating
Score is running in the Standard Operation. There
are then 4 factors which can reduce the Time
Score to give a lower Operating Score. They are
the Sound Activation, Return Trip, Furniture
modes and Non-Dead-Reckoning.
Standard
Operation
The Robot is controlled
by either an external PC computer with a
tether or it uses an internal
self-contained computer. The Robot
operates in the arena structure with no
obstructions other than the walls. The
Robot is activated (starts to search for
the candle) by manually starting it.
After finding the candle and
extinguishing it, the Robot stays where
it is. In this mode, the time in seconds
for the Robot to find and extinguish the
candle is the operating score. The
untethered mode bonus has been eliminated
from the contest. ( OS = TS )
Sound Activation
Instead of being manually
activated, the Robot activates itself
when it detects a 3.5 KHz sound signal (a
Radio Shack #273-075 in continuous mode).
Once turned on, the Robot can not start
to move until the 3.5 KHz signal is
activated. There will be a 5% reduction
in time for a Robot operating in this
mode. ( OS = .95 x TS )
Return Trip
After extinguishing the
candle, the Robot returns to the Home
Circle. It does not have to retrace its
path in returning to the Home Circle or
even take the most efficient route, it
just must get back, but without going
into any other rooms along the way. In
other words, once it has put out the
candle, it must leave that room and
return to the Home Circle without
entering any other rooms.
The Robot will be considered to have
returned to the Home Circle if any part
of the Robot is within the 12" white
Home Circle. The Robot does not have to
be in the same position that it was when
it started the contest, it just must have
some part of its body within the Home
Circle.
If a Robot is entered to run in the
Return Trip mode and finds and
extinguishes the candle, but doesn't
return to the Home Circle, the Robot
would not be disqualified. Instead we
would drop the Robot back into the
Standard Mode and it would just receive
the Operating Score which would be the
Time Score with no reduction.
The Time Score will include just the
time the Robot takes to find and
extinguish the candle. It will not
include the time for the Robot's return
trip to the Home Circle. Operating in
this mode will result in a 10% reduction
in the time score. ( OS = .90 x TS )
Non-Dead-Reckoning
Many Robots use a form of
dead-reckoning to travel through the
arena. That is, once correctly oriented
at the start of the arena, they count the
distance moved and angle turned and add
them to their old position to obtain
their new location and orientation. While
this is a perfectly good and legitimate
method of traveling through the arena in
this contest, it is not as practical or
useful in the real world. So to encourage
Robots to use more sophisticated methods
of determining their position within the
arena, we are giving a score reduction
bonus to Robots that do not use a
dead-reckoning method.
The key to using dead-reckoning is
knowing the distance before-hand to the
various rooms in the arena. If you decide
to run your Robot in this
non-dead-reckoning mode, we will place
one or more inclined sections in the
hallways of the arena which will have the
effect of changing the distance to the
rooms.
An inclined section will be placed in
one of the hallways. It will be 18"
wide, completely filling the hallway. It
will have gently sloped sides. Because of
the sloped sides, the total distant a
Robot travels in going over the inclined
section will be greater then if it just
went on the flat floor, thus limiting the
effectiveness of dead-reckoning. The
slope may be such that a wheel on one
side of the Robot may travel a greater
distance then a wheel on the other side.
Since the robot will not know exactly
where this increased path will be placed,
it will have to use other methods besides
dead reckoning to determine its location
and orientation within the arena.
There may be more then one inclined
section used during a trial. The section
will only be used in hallways and not in
rooms. A section will not be placed in a
doorway and will not block a doorway. The
number and location of the sections will
be changed from trial to trail if this
mode is selected. The sections will
remain in place during the return trip
portion of the trial. The maximum height
of the inclined section will be less than
2 inches. The inclined sections will be
tapered and there will be as smooth an
intersection with the flat floor as
possible. There will NOT be any steps or
sharp drops. The exact dimensions of the
inclined section will be unknown to the
Robot before the start of the contest.
The maximum slope of the incline will be
13 degrees. The wooden inclined sections
will be painted flat black just like the
floor. Successfully operating in this
mode will result in a 30% reduction in
the time score. ( OS = .70 x TS )
Furniture
In this mode there will be one piece
of furniture in each room. The furniture
will be placed at random in the rooms.
The Robot may touch the furniture, but it
can not push or damage the pieces. The
furniture will be represented by 4.5 inch
diameter steel cylinders, painted
semi-gloss yellow. The cylinders are 12
inches high and weigh 5 pounds.
The possibility that the furniture may
be blocking the Robot's view of the
candle or that the Robot may have to go
around the furniture to get to the candle
is what makes the Furniture Mode such an
interesting and real-world realistic
challenge. The Robot may have to look
around the room from different locations
to see if the furniture is really
blocking it's view of the candle and if
the candle is indeed behind the
furniture, the Robot may have to
determine what is the best way to go
around the furniture to get to the
candle. Successfully operating in this
mode will result in a 30% reduction in
the time score. ( OS = .70 x TS )
If Robot A competes in the Standard Mode and
puts out the candle in 1 minutes and 20 seconds,
the operating score would be the time in seconds
or 80.
If Robot B competes in the Sound Activation
Mode and puts out the candle in 1 minutes and 22
seconds then its operating score would be the
time in seconds less 5% for being in the Sound
Activation Mode or .95 x 82 or 78.
If Robot C competes in the Furniture Mode and
puts out the candle in 1 minute and 47 seconds
then its score will be the time in seconds less
30% for operating in the Furniture Mode or .7 x
107 or 75.
Thus in this example, Robot C would have the
best score even though it took the longest actual
time. Robot B would be second and Robot A would
be third.
It will also be possible to combine modes.
Thus if Robot D operated in the Sound and Return
Trip mode its score would be (.95 x .90) or 85.5%
of its actual time in seconds. ( OS = .95 x .90 x
TS )
This scoring procedure is designed to try to
allow Robot entries of all different levels of
sophistication to compete in the same contest.
Anyone can win.
Each Robot will have 3 chances to find and
extinguish the candle. The Robot can operate
under different modes during each trial. The
candle and any furniture, if necessary, will be
moved to different locations for each trial. The
lowest total of the two best scores from the
three trials shall be used to determine the
winner. A Robot must successfully extinguish the
candle in order to have completed a run and get a
score. A Robot must have at least two completed
runs and the associated scores in order to be
eligible for a prize. In other words, a Robot
must have put the candle out at least twice in
order to win a prize. One really, really good
score will not be enough.
In order to achieve the contest
objective of building a Robot that can find and
extinguish a fire in a house, finding the fire
within a reasonable period of time is very
important. The maximum time limit for a Robot to
find the candle will be 6 minutes. After 6
minutes the trial will be stopped. The maximum
time for the Robot to return to the Home circle
in the Return Trip mode will be 3 minutes. If in
any trail, a Robot gets stuck in a loop and
performs the same movement 5 times in a row, that
trial will be stopped. Any time the Robot does
not move at all for 1 minute, the trial will be
stopped. Any trial that is stopped will count as
no score for that Robot. Stopping a trial run for
any of the above reasons will have no impact on
any of the other two trial runs that the Robot
has.
The goal of this contest is to be
as real-world realistic as possible. Therefore
there are two actions while not illegal, are not
what would be a good operating method in the real
world. Thus there are penalty points added to the
time score (TS) of any Robot which does them. You
can still do these things, but you will get
points added to your time score (TS) if you do.
Don't let these penalties scare you too much.
These penalties are generally a small price to
pay for a Robot actually manages to accomplish
the task.
Touching a wall
Any Robot that touches a
wall with any part of its body or feeler,
either deliberately or accidentally will
have 5 points added to its time score
(TS) for each time it touched a wall. Any
Robot that slides along a wall will have
an additional 1 point added to its time
score for each inch of wall it touched as
it was sliding along. A Robot can still
touch a wall to orient itself, but it
will be penalized for doing so.
Touching the
candle
Any Robot that touches
the candle or its base with any part of
its body or feeler, either deliberately
or accidentally, will have 50 points
added to its time score. This is true
whether the candle is lit or
extinguished. This touching refers only
to a part of the Robot's body and does
not include any water, air or other
material that the Robot might use to
extinguish the candle.
Since it is important that any
Fire-Fighting Robot be reliable as well as fast,
any Robot that extinguishes the candle in all
three of its trials will get a 10% reduction in
its Final Score (The sum of its two best
Operating Scores.) For example, Robot A has
Operating Scores of 25 and 24, but failed to
extinguish the candle in its third trial. Robot B
has Operating Scores of 28, 24 & 47. The two
best Operating Scores for Robot A added together
give Robot A a final score of 49. The two best
Operating Scores for Robot B total 52, but since
it extinguished the candle in all 3 trials, it
gets a 10% reduction in the Operating Score total
so its Final Score would be 46.8 and Robot B
would beat Robot A.
In the event that there are a large number of
entries it may be necessary to prequalify your
robot. A decision will be made one month before
Region 5 Conference whether prequalification will
be necessary. Prequalification would run on
Friday afternoon before the actual contest on
Saturday. If prequalification is necessary, then
the following guidelines will be used.
In order to qualify for the contest a Robot
must be able to find and extinguish a candle
within the 6 minute time limit. As part of this
qualification test, the Robot builders,
themselves, can place the candle in any room and
in any location within that room of their
choosing. If the Robot finds the candle, then it
passes the preliminary qualification test and can
compete in the contest on Saturday.
The time that it takes the Robot to find and
extinguish the flame during the qualification
test will not count in any way towards its score
in the actual contest. The Robot can make as many
attempts at qualifying for the contest as the
time and schedule during the practice sessions on
Friday permit. The Robot only needs to have found
and extinguished a candle once in order to be
qualified for the contest.
The contest judges may stop any
Robot at any time if they feel that it is
performing, or is about to perform, any action
that is dangerous or hazardous to people or
equipment. No Robot is allowed to use any
flammable or combustible processes.
All Robot entries which
participate in the contest will receive a
Certificate of Achievement and an official
contest T-shirt. Other prizes and awards will be
given for the winners in each of the two
divisions.
In all matters of interpreting
these rules before and during the contest and in
any issues not covered by these rules, the
decisions of the official contest coordinator
will be final.
IEEE Student Division
IEEE Student teams consisting of
undergraduates can enter the contest. The teams
can draw upon outside resources, (e.g., graduate
students, faculty, ...) but the team competing at
the Region 5 Conference must consist of
undergraduates.
The team must be conversant with the
technology used in the robot design and must be
able to answer questions with regard to the
design and operation of the robot. The team may
have one undergraduate member outside the
electrical engineering/electronics engineering
discipline. The outside team member is expected
to be a member in an appropriate professional
society, (e.g. a mechanical engineering
undergraduate who is a member of SME).
Open Division
There are no restrictions as to who can enter
a robot in the Open division. Although most robot
entries will be submitted by individuals, there
is no limit on the number of people, who as a
group, can submit a robot entry. Only one prize
will be given to each winning robot entry.
IEEE Student Division
All IEEE student entrants in the robotics
competition must be registered for the Region 5
Conference and have indicated on the registration
form their intent to participate in the Robotics
Contest. In addition, fill out the registration
form below and submit it at your earliest
opportunity.
Early registration of your robot will allow
the robotics group to estimate reliably the
number of robot entries and plan accordingly.
Open Division
A non-refundable fee of $20 is required for
each Robot entered in the Open division. More
than one Robot can be entered by any individual
or group, but each entry must be accompanied by a
$20 fee. The same physical Robot can not be
entered twice even if two entry fees are paid. If
you want to enter two Robots, then you must build
two Robots. Please make the checks payable to
IEEE Region 5 Conference and include the check
with the entry form. Send the $20 check and the
completed entry form to:
Region 5 Robot Contest
ATTN: R. G. Hayes
DeVRY
4801 Regent Blvd.
Irving, TX 75063-2440
The registration deadline is March 15, 1998.
If the number of entries is large then a Preliminary Qualification will be
run to insure that the main competition on
Saturday can be run in the allotted time.
The contest will be held in conjunction with
the IEEE Region 5 Conference at the Worthington
Hotel in Ft. Worth on Saturday, April 18, 1998.
There will be time available on Friday, April 17
for entrants to test their Robots in the official
arenas. Prequalification of the robots may be
necessary on Friday as well (see Preliminary
Qualifications). Additional contest
information will be made available through the
1998 Region 5 Conference web site.
All official contest information will be
posted on this web site. If you have registered
your robot you will be notified via email of
periodic web page updates as a reminder that you
need to catch up on the latest contest
information.
Send questions via email to: bhayes@ieee.org
This form must be filled out and submitted for
each robot being entered. Please include the
names of all team members that will be present at
the competition.
IEEE Student Division
Simply fill out the registration form below
and submit it to register your robot. Similar
information is also requested on the IEEE Region
5 Conference Registration form.
Open Division
Fill out a hard copy of the registration form
and mail it along with your registration fee of
$20 to:
Region 5 Robot Contest
ATTN: R. G. Hayes
DeVRY
4801 Regent Blvd.
Irving, TX 75063-2440
Make the entry fee check payable to: IEEE
Region 5 Conference
Name of Robot:
Division: IEEE Open
Contact Person's Name:
Job Title/Grade:
Names of other team members:
Company/School:
Address:
City:
State:
Zip Code:
Day Phone:
Night Phone:
Fax:
Email:
Signature:
Date:
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