This list will aim to answer any of your
questions with regards this competition, and publish them so that all the
participants get equal benefit. Any question should be directed towards
Mr. Neil Heyes.
| Q - Is the size of the robot limited to
30 cm in each dimension (cube), or only with respect to the ground (2 D)? |
| A - The size is limited to the footprint
of the robot on the surface of the wall (vertical). In any case, take this
dimensions only as reference. |
| Q - Is the wheight of the robot limited
in some way? |
| A - There is not this kind of limitation,
but for safety reason, it will be better to not have a machine of more than 10
Kg. A security cable fixed on the upper part of the wall will be
available. |
| Q - What kind of wall we will found for
the competition? |
| A - The wall we prepared is a
ferromagnetic one, 2m X 2m in size. It is sorrounded by a barrier 10 cm height
and a base 2m X 0.5m in size. It is a very flat surface (like glass) and also
some junction are negligible. |
| Q - Is it allowed to touch obstacles and
the (side) wall? Will it be punished? |
| A - It can touch the sides, but must not
move the obstacles. It will not be punished for this. However, it is not
allowed for the robot to run to one of the sides of the wall and then just
follow it up until it reaches the top (in the interests of true competition).
If the robot can complete the task by detecting the obstacle without having to
physically touch it, then the judges will look this on favorably. |
| Q - How close should the robot stop to
the top wall? Should it be indicated by the robot that it feels to have reached
the top? How? |
| A - There will be a white finishing line,
positioned 30cm from the top of the wall, which the robot must cross in order
to complete the task. |
| Q - Are the different rating criteria
and tasks weighted? What is the individual weight? (Of course, I know that
leaving this question open allows more freedom to build different robots and to
judge the results. But in designing a specific machine it is very important for
optimizing many design decisions to know it in more detail. Furthermore, the
judgment appears more transparent and fair.) |
| A - I accept what you say with regards the
scoring system, and you are right, by leaving the scoring system flexible, it
will allow for easier judging of each individual robot. However, I also agree
with your point about defining a scoring system now, so that the judging will
be more transparent, and robot designs can be optimized to gain the most
points. In brief, the basic requirement of any of the machines is to locomote
from the bottom of the vertical wall, to the top, and depending on what the
robot is capable of doing, the points will be allocated accordingly |
| Q - Is it intended that a single machine
should run different tasks? Or should a specific machine be built for each
task? In other words, is it allowed to prepare different machines individually
for each task? Or may a robot be modified to adopt it to a specific task? |
| A - Ideally 1 robot would perform all
tasks un-modified. Second best would be to have 1 robot being adapted to do
specific things. Third, individual robots would be entered for individual
tasks. |
| Q - How many obstacles will be placed on
the wall? What is their minimal distance? What is their shape? |
| A - The number of obstacles are undefined.
The minimum separation of them will be 35 cm. The shape of the obstacles is
like a cube 10cm X 10cm X 10cm; take this shape and dimensions only as
reference. Not convex or piramidal shape will be used. |
| Q - Will the rating take the number (and
closeness) of obstacles into account? |
| A - No This will probably be left to the
judge discretion. |
| Q - Is the starting point (and
orientation) of robot arbitrarily placed at the bottom of the wall? |
| A - Ideally YES! In the interests of
promoting robotic design to become commercially useful, it is seen that a
certain amount of usability needs to be incorporated in the design. This means
that someone who had no involvement in the design or production of a robot, can
easily set it up, and start it off on it task. Again, if interaction from the
designers is needed, then this will be reflected in the scoring, at the judge
discretion. |
| Q - Does the position of the end point
matter? (Should it be for instance in the middle of the top wall?) |
| A - A cross or an object with a specific
mark (like a strong white light) will be placed at the top of the all, the
closer you get, the better the score will be. |
| Q - Who places the machine at the
starting position, the competitor or e.g. a member of the jury? |
| A - As detailed above, but a certain
amount of flexibility is allowed as we are all aware how temperamental these
experimental machines can be! |
| Q - Who places the obstacles (and
barrier) on the wall? Is it allowed to tune the robot to the specific
arrangement? |
| A - The judges / organisers of the
competition will place the obstacles. The robots must cope with this as best as
possible, if they can complete the task, modifications can be made but this
will be taken into consideration with the scoring. The horizontal/low part of
the table will be obstacles-free if you need this. |
| Q - Is there an opportunity for the
competitors to test and tune their robots prior to the competition on the wall
(and obstacles) which is used for the competition? |
| A - Yes hopefully we can organise an area
where the wall can be permanently set up and anyone can test their robots at
any time during the week of the conference. |
| Q - I think it is usefull to allow 2 or
3 runs for any robot (and task) and to take the best result. In this way the
stress on the team is reduced because such machines do not always work very
reliably. |
| A - There will be the possibility to have
a few runs at the wall at the actual time of the competition. |
| Q - Some comments on the last
competition also indicated that it is important to allocate a specific time
slot and room for the competition. This increases the role the competition will
play on the conference and allows a greater audience (and public media) to
participate. |
| A - Yes, I also think that there should be
a specific time slot and location allocated to the competition. However, I am
unable to tell you this at the present time, I release this information closer
to the time. |
