PROHIBITED ITEMS:

Other than following the black line, nothing may be used to guide the robot.

No externally-controlled device (i.e., by the operator or another computer or external sensor) that transmits, receives, or reflects any energy, such as acoustic/sonar, microwave, radio wave (HF, RF, UHF, etc.), light, laser, or infrared energy may be used.

PLAYING FIELD:

The playing field shall be 4 ft by 8 ft surface, made of 12"x12" tiles, with no border.  A pattern will be assembled from the eight different tile types shown below.  The number and type of each tile shall be determined by the officials of the games.  The tile thickness is about 1/16 inch.  Each tile will have a black track made from ¾ inch wide electrical tape.  The ending tile will consist of a 2 by 2 inch black box.

The tile patterns shall be as shown below :

CALIBRATION PERIOD:

 There will be a practice/adjustment time before the event.  Competitors must share the line following course with other competitors who wish to practice.  At the end of the time period, contestants are responsible for making sure the course is clean and ready for the next contestant to the satisfaction of the judges, or the contestant who produced the mess may be disqualified.  This includes debris, fluids, or marks remaining on the course.

PERFORMANCE:

After your trial begins, the only interference allowed is to pick up your robot, return it to Start and restart. The 5-minute clock is not stopped, and your robot must negotiate the line again, in a continuous path, from Start to where it left the line, before you will accrue more points for successfully negotiating tiles. Note: intersections do count twice. 

The evaluation of what constitutes "following the line" will, in some cases, require a judgment call. Judges' decisions are final, so if in doubt about your robot, ask a judge before the competition to check your robot's performance.

Your robot must come to a complete stop at the End tile to get those bonus points. 

SCORING

 A contestant has 5 minutes to complete the course.  This is the maximum amount of time for a robot to complete the course. If hung up, robots may be restarted at the entrance (beginning a new time measurement for that run) as many times as necessary within those 5 minutes to complete the course.  At the end of the 5 minutes, or the successful completion of the course, the contestant shall be removed from the tiled area.

The contestant will receive the following points:

·     10 points for each tile successfully negotiated the first time.

·     10 points for each minute less than the five-minute maximum time allotted for completing the course.

Point adjustments are as follows :

·     +20 points for recognizing the end of the line and stopping.

·     -10 for using a fundamentally unmodified retail line-following robot kit.

Winners determined by the highest number of points.  In the event of a tie in points, winner will be determined by the robot with the shortest time for successful completion of the course.

JUDGES:

Judges decisions are final.

Robot Web Sources

  LEGO MindStorm

  http://mindstorms.LEGO.com/

  Lynxmotion, Inc.

  Source for MicroMouse and Carpet Rover

  http://www.lynxmotion.com/

  Parallax, Inc.

  Source for Parallax Basic Stamp I and II and BOE-Bot

  http://www.parallax.com/

  http://www.parallax.com/html_pages/edu/index.asp

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  Northeast Indiana Robot Games Rules 2007

Winter Competition Rules and Regulations for

The Maze

DESCRIPTION

The challenge is to create a robot whose purpose is to navigate a 12-foot x 12-foot maze in the shortest amount of time.

CLASSES

There is only one class in this competition: Any robot style, any age.

THE MAZE

The maze is approximately 12 feet by 12 feet.  The walls are 6 inches tall and 1/8 inch thick.  The minimum clearance between walls is 11½ inches.  There will be a designated entrance and exit to the maze.  NOTE: Walls and floors are yellow and black, respectively, and will contain grooves (with a little blue showing through the cracks) and slight separations (i.e. not perfectly smooth surfaces).

THE PLAY

Robots will be placed at the entrance and will then navigate through the maze until they reach the exit. There will be 5 minutes to complete the course, which is the maximum amount of time for a robot to complete the maze.  If hung up, robots may be restarted at the entrance (beginning a new time measurement) as many times as necessary within those 5 minutes to complete the course.  Time to complete the course is counted from the time the robot first moves.  The judges will designate an official timekeeper.  Time of an individual run will start as soon as the robot crosses the entrance line.  Timing will stop when the robot crosses the exit line.  Time will be reported only for robots that complete the maze.  For robots that do not complete the maze, we will record how far through the maze they went.  

The time that will be recorded for the maze robot will be the first successful navigation of the maze – any subsequent maze trips will be at the discretion of the judge, but will not be used for scoring, unless the judge declares that the maze itself hindered the robot improperly, such as walls falling out due to faulty construction.

There will be a practice/adjustment time before the event.  Competitors must share the course with other competitors who wish to practice.  At the end of the time period, contestants are responsible for making sure the maze is clean and ready for the next contestant to the satisfaction of the judges, or the contestant who produced the mess may be disqualified.  This includes debris, fluids, or marks remaining on the maze.

SCORING

• First, second and third place will be determined by fastest amount of time taken to complete the maze.

• If no robots complete the maze, then placement for first, second and third places will be determined by who is the shortest travel distance away from the exit.

THE ROBOTS

1. The height of the robot is unlimited. 

2. The robots must weigh 6.6 pounds or less.

3. Robots must not receive any prompts or cues from the operator.  This includes remote starts.  All motivation and control must come from within the robot itself.  

4. The contestant will determine sensors for detection in the maze