Robocupjunior Rescue A - Rules 2014
Robocupjunior Rescue A - Rules 2014
Robocupjunior Rescue A - Rules 2014
RoboCupJunior Rescue - Technical Committee 2014 Roberto Bonilla (Mexico) CHAIR, [email protected] Fredrik Lofgren (Sweden), [email protected] Tiago Docilio Caldeira (United Arab Emirates), [email protected] Naomi Chikuma (Japan), [email protected] Elizabeth Mabrey (USA), [email protected] Kai Hannemann (Germany), [email protected] These are the official rules for RoboCupJunior 2014. They are released by the RoboCupJunior Rescue Technical Committee for Rescue. These rules have priority over any translations. Changes from the 2013 rules are highlighted in red.
Preface
The land is simply too dangerous for human to reach the victim! Your team has been given the most difficult tasks. It must be able to carry out the rescue mission in fully autonomous mode with no human assistance. The robot must be strong and smart enough to navigate through a treacherous terrain with hills, uneven lands and rubbles without getting stuck. When the robot finally finds the victim, it has to gently and carefully transport the victim to the safe evacuation point where humans can take over. Time and technical skills are the essential! Come and prepare to be the most successful Rescue Response Team.
Page 1 of 15
Contents
RoboCupJunior Rescue A Rules 2014 ................................................................................................................................ 1 Preface ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 1 1. Arena ................................................................................................................................................................................. 4 1.1 Description ....................................................................................................................................................................... 4 1.2 Dimensions ....................................................................................................................................................................... 4 1.3 Floor.................................................................................................................................................................................. 4 1.4 Line ................................................................................................................................................................................... 4 1.5 Debris and Obstacles ....................................................................................................................................................... 5 1.6 Intersections .................................................................................................................................................................... 5 1.7 Evacuation Zone............................................................................................................................................................... 5 1.8 Victims .............................................................................................................................................................................. 5 1.9 Environmental Conditions .............................................................................................................................................. 6 2. Robots ................................................................................................................................................................................ 6 2.1 Control .............................................................................................................................................................................. 6 2.2 Construction ..................................................................................................................................................................... 6 2.3 Team ................................................................................................................................................................................. 7 2.4 Inspection ......................................................................................................................................................................... 7 2.5 Violations.......................................................................................................................................................................... 7 3. Play .................................................................................................................................................................................... 7 3.1 Pre-round Practice........................................................................................................................................................... 7 3.2 Humans............................................................................................................................................................................. 8 3.3 Start of Play ...................................................................................................................................................................... 8 3.4 Game Play ......................................................................................................................................................................... 8 3.5 Scoring .............................................................................................................................................................................. 8 3.6 Lack of progress: ............................................................................................................................................................ 10 3.7 Victim Placement ........................................................................................................................................................... 12 3.8 Evacuation Point Placement ......................................................................................................................................... 12 3.9 End of Play ...................................................................................................................................................................... 12 4. Open Technical Evaluation .......................................................................................................................................... 12 4.1 Description ..................................................................................................................................................................... 12 4.2 Evaluation Aspects ........................................................................................................................................................ 13 4.3 Awards ............................................................................................................................................................................ 13
Page 2 of 15
4.4 Sharing ............................................................................................................................................................................ 14 5. Conflict Resolution ........................................................................................................................................................ 14 5.1 Referee............................................................................................................................................................................ 14 5.2 Rule Clarification ........................................................................................................................................................... 14 5.3 Special Circumstances ................................................................................................................................................... 14 6. Code of Conduct ............................................................................................................................................................. 14 6.1 Fair Play .......................................................................................................................................................................... 14 6.2 Behavior ......................................................................................................................................................................... 14 6.3 Mentors .......................................................................................................................................................................... 15 6.4 Ethics and Integrity ....................................................................................................................................................... 15 6.5 Sharing ............................................................................................................................................................................ 15 6.6 Spirit ............................................................................................................................................................................... 15
Page 3 of 15
1. Arena
1.1 Description
1.1.1 The arena is modular. Each module can be considered to be a room in a building. Rooms may be placed adjacent to each other (on the same level horizontally) or may be stacked vertically. 1.1.2 Rooms on the same level may be connected by hallways. 1.1.3 Rooms on different levels are connected with a ramp. A ramp does not exceed an incline of 25 degrees from the horizontal surface, and must have walls at least 10 cm high. 1.1.4 The Ramp area (hereafter known as the Ramp) consists of the ramp itself and the top and bottom platforms that connect it to other rooms. 1.1.5 Building plans can be found at the official RCJ website under Rescue rules.
1.2 Dimensions
1.2.1 Each room is approximately 120 cm by 90 cm, with walls that are at least 10 cm high. 1.2.2 Hallways and the Ramp should also have walls at least 10 cm high, and approximately 30 cm wide with +-2cm variation. 1.2.3 Each room has one or two doorways. Robots may enter and exit through the same doorway if intersections are used. Doorways are 25 cm x 25 cm in size with +-2cm variation. 1.2.4 The First room in the arena may or may not have an entrance doorway. The evacuation zone does not have an exit door.
1.3 Floor
1.3.1 The floor of each room has a white or close to white tone. The floor may be either smooth or textured (like linoleum or carpet), and may have steps of up to 3 mm height at joins between rooms. 1.3.2 The arena should be placed in the way that the floors are leveled.
1.4 Line
1.4.1 The floor of each room is composed of 30 cm x 30 cm tiles with a black line for a robot to follow. The black line, 1-2 cm wide, may be made with standard electrical (insulating) tape or printed onto paper or other materials. The black line forms a path on the floor. (The grid lines indicated in the drawings are for reference only.) 1.4.2 The line is always at least 10 cm from the nearest wall. 1.4.3 Where the black line is used, it will enter and exit each room through the standard doorways. Straight sections of the black line may have gaps with at least 5 cm of straight line before each gap. The gap is 20 cm at most. If a gap is running along a wall, it is 30 cm at most. 1.4.4 The arrangement of the tiles within each room may vary between rounds. 1.4.5 Due to the nature of the tiles, there may be a step and/or gap in the construction of the arena. These are not intentional and will be minimized as much as possible by the organizers. 1.4.6 A robot is allowed to follow the wall if the line is straight along the wall.
Page 4 of 15
1.6 Intersections
1.6.1 Intersections can be placed anywhere except in the evacuation room. For example, there may be intersections leading up to or down from the ramp. 1.6.2 A robot is required to take either the rightmost or leftmost path which will be defined before competition begins. 1.6.3 The intersections are always perpendicular, but may have 3 or 4 branches.
* NOTE: These diagrams illustrate the case of taking the rightmost path. If a round is designated to be all left preference, it will take the opposite turns at the intersection.
1.8 Victims
1.8.1 A Victim may be located anywhere on the floor of the evacuation room, but will be at least 10 cm from the nearest speed bump or Obstacle.
Page 5 of 15
1.8.2 The victim takes the form of a soft drink can, internally weighted to approximately 150 grams. The dimensions of the can are similar to those readily available in the country in which the competition is being held (i.e. Australia 375 ml, US 12 fl. oz., Europe 330 ml etc.). Teams need to be prepared for minor variations. 1.8.3 The victim will be electrically conductive. Its surface is silver and reflects light.
2. Robots
2.1 Control
2.1.1 Robots must be controlled autonomously. The use of a remote control or manual control, or passing information (by sensors, cables, other interference, etc.) to the robot is not allowed. 2.1.2 Robots must be started manually by the team captain. 2.1.3 Pre-mapped type of dead reckoning is prohibited. (Movements predefined based on known locations). 2.1.4 Robots must not damage any part of the arena in any way.
2.2 Construction
2.2.1 Any robot kit or building blocks, either available on the market or built from raw hardware, may be used, as long as the design and construction of the robot are primarily and substantially the original work of the students (see section 2.5 below). 2.2.2 Any commercially produced robot kits or sensor components that are specifically marketed to complete any single major task of RoboCupJunior Rescue will be disqualified. For example, pre-programmed sensors with special features for line-following or obstacle tracing are not allowed. If there is any doubt, teams should consult the Technical Committee (TC) at the International RCJ Community Forum http://www.rcjcommunity.org 2.2.3 For the safety of participants and spectators, no lasers are allowed on any robot. 2.2.4 Bluetooth Class 2, 3 and ZigBee communications are the only wireless communication types allowed in RoboCupJunior. Robots that have other types of wireless communications on board will need to be either removed or disabled for possible interference with other leagues competing in RoboCup. If the robot has equipment for other forms of wireless communication, they must prove that they have disabled them. Robots that do not comply may face immediate disqualification from the tournament.
Page 6 of 15
2.3 Team
2.3.1 Each team must have only one robot in the field. (This rule can be modified in a Super Team Competition such that two or more robots are deployed together and have to cooperate in completing given tasks.) 2.3.2 Each team must have a minimum of 2 members. 2.3.3 The number of team members per a team is not limited but team should choose their team size in a way that the learning experience of each member is maximized. Mentors/parents are not allowed to be with the students during the competition. The students will have to self-govern themselves (without mentor's supervision) during the long stretch of hours at the competition.
2.4 Inspection
2.4.1 The robots will be examined by a panel of referees before the start of the tournament and at other times during the competition to ensure that they meet the constraints described above. 2.4.2 It is the responsibility of teams to have their robots re-inspected, if their robots are modified at any time during the tournament. 2.4.3 Students will be asked to explain the operation of their robot, in order to verify that the construction and programming of the robot is their own work. 2.4.4 Students will be asked questions about their preparation efforts, and may be requested to answer surveys and participate in video-taped interviews for research purposes. 2.4.5 All teams will need to email a technical document containing the major list of hardware and software components at least 1 week prior to the competition. The purpose of this document is to allow judges to be more prepared for the interviews. For sample documentation, please refer to the "Bills of Materials Sample" at the official RCJ website under Rescue rules. Information about how to submit your document will be announced prior to the competition to the teams. 2.4.6 All teams have to submit their codes prior to the competition. The code is never shared with other teams without the teams permission.
2.5 Violations
2.5.1 Any violations of the inspection rules will prevent that robot from competing until modifications are applied. 2.5.2 However, modifications must be made within the time schedule of the tournament and teams must not delay tournament play while making modifications. 2.5.3 If a robot fails to meet all specifications (even with modification), it will be disqualified from that round (but not from the tournament). 2.5.4 No mentor assistance during the competition is allowed. See 6. Code of Conduct.
3. Play
3.1 Pre-round Practice
3.1.1 Where possible, competitors will have access to practice arenas for calibration, testing and tuning throughout the competition.
Page 7 of 15
3.1.2 Whenever there are dedicated arenas for competition and practice, it is at the organizers discretion if testing is allowed on the competition arena.
3.2 Humans
3.2.1 Teams should designate one team member who acts as the captain and is allowed to move the robot, based on the stated rules and/or as directed by a referee. Only the captain will be allowed to interact with the robot during a scoring run. 3.2.2 The captain can move the robot only when s/he is told to do so by a referee. 3.2.3 Other team members (and any spectators) within the vicinity of the rescue arena are to stand at least 150 cm away from the arena while their robot is active, unless otherwise directed by a referee. 3.2.4 No one is allowed to touch the arenas intentionally during a scoring round.
3.5 Scoring
3.5.1 A robot is awarded points for successfully negotiating rooms, hallways, ramps and each hazard (gaps in the line, speed bumps, intersections and obstacles). 3.5.2 Successfully negotiating is defined as entering through one doorway, completely following the line, negotiating all line gaps, intersections, speed bumps, obstacles, and exiting through a doorway without human interaction. 3.5.3 Failed attempts at negotiating elements of the arena are defined as Lack of Progress (see 3. 6).
Page 8 of 15
3.5.4 Points available for successfully negotiating rooms: 1st Attempt = 60 points 2nd Attempt = 40 points 3rd Attempt= 20 points 3.5.5 Points available for successfully negotiating hallways and ramps: 1st Attempt= 30 points 2nd Attempt = 20 points 3rd Attempt = 10 points 3.5.6 If intersections are used, the path may go to the opposite direction through a room/hallway/ramp (going back to the path that a robot already took). The points will be awarded as if it was a new room/hallway/ramp. 3.5.7 There are no points available for negotiating rooms/hallways/ramps beyond the third attempt in each. 3.5.8 Points available for successfully negotiating each gap in the black line. 10 points per gap. 3.5.9 Points available for successfully avoiding each obstacle blocking the black line. 10 points per obstacle. 3.5.10 A robot is considered to have successfully negotiated an obstacle when it moved through the tile where an obstacle was placed. 3.5.11 Points available for successfully completing a tile that has speed bumps. 5 points per speed bump tile. 3.5.12 Points available for successfully completing a tile that has an intersection. 10 points per direction through intersection tile. 3.5.13 Each gap, obstacle, speed bump and intersection tile can only be scored once per direction through the room, not each attempt through the room. 3.5.14 Reaching a victim: a robots is awarded 20 pts for a successful reach. "Successful reach" means that the robot has touched the victim with any part of the robot. 3.5.15 Successful rescue of a victim: Robots are also awarded points for successfully rescuing victims. A successful victim rescue occurs when the victim is moved to the evacuation point (it needs to be completely inside of the evacuation point for Primary/free-standing for Secondary), in its original upright orientation, and no part of the robot is in contact with the victim (see figures below). Team captains may declare either a "Lack of Progress" or "End of Round" when a failed attempt at a victim rescue occurs (see 3.6). Points available for a successful rescue: 1st Attempt = 60 points 2nd Attempt = 40 points 3rd Attempt= 20 points *No points scored for rescue attempts beyond the third attempt. 3.5.16 Secondary Division Only - Additional Points for lifting the victim: Lifted victim, with no part of the victim touching the floor = 20 points 3.5.17 Ties in scoring will be resolved on the basis of the time taken by each robot (or team of robots) to complete the course (this includes calibration time). 3.5.18 Check RoboCupJunior official website for a score sheet template. Primary Rescue A - A,B,C,D,E,F,M Secondary Rescue A - G,H,I,J,K,L,N
Page 9 of 15
3.6.6 A team is not allowed to restart a robot in other room/hallway/ramp than the one where a Lack of Progress occurred. However a team is allowed to restart a robot in a room/hallway/ramp where the Lack of Progress occurred as many times as they want. 3.6.7 A robot is allowed to proceed to the next module ONLY after completing the current module without a Lack of Progress. Module includes room, hallway, and ramp. If the robot fails to negotiate the current module after the third failed attempt, the team captain may choose to move the robot to the end of the current module to continue on.
Page 10 of 15
3.6.8 The team captain may also choose to make further attempts at the failed room to earn the additional points available for overcoming obstacles, gaps in the line, and speed bump points that have not already been earned in the previous attempts at the room.
Page 11 of 15
Page 12 of 15
4.3 Awards
4.3.1 Awards may be divided into several categories. a) Innovation: - Mechanical innovation - Electronic innovation - Algorithm innovation b) Robust Design: - Mechanical design - Electronic design - Algorithm design c) Team work demonstration of great collaborations within the team. d) Best Practice (in development) demonstration of the best development practice from brainstorming, designing, prototyping, development, test plan, quality assurance plan, etc. 4.3.2 Awards will be given in the form of a certification.
Page 13 of 15
4.4 Sharing
4.4.1 Teams are encouraged to review other's posters and presentations. 4.4.2 The awarded teams are required to post their documents and presentation at the International RCJ Community Forum (http://www.rcjcommunity.org/)
5. Conflict Resolution
5.1 Referee
5.1.1 During game play, the referee's decisions are final.
6. Code of Conduct
6.1 Fair Play
6.1.1 Robots that cause deliberate or repeated damage to the arena will be disqualified. 6.1.2 Humans that cause deliberate interference with robots or damage to the arena will be disqualified. 6.1.3 It is expected that the aim of all teams is to participate fairly.
6.2 Behavior
6.2.1 Participants should be mindful of other people and their robots when moving around the tournament venue. 6.2.2 Participants are not to enter setup areas of other leagues or other teams, unless explicitly invited to do so by team members. 6.2.3 Participants who misbehave may be asked to leave the building and risk being disqualified from the tournament.
Page 14 of 15
6.2.4 These rules will be enforced at the discretion of the referees, officials, tournament organizers and local law enforcement authorities.
6.3 Mentors
6.3.1 Mentors (teachers, parents, chaperons, translators and other adult team members) are not allowed in the student work area. 6.3.2 Sufficient seating will be supplied for mentors to remain in a supervisory capacity close to the student work area. 6.3.3 Mentors are not permitted to repair robots or be involved in programming of their teams robots. 6.3.4 Mentor interference with robots or referee decisions will result in a warning in the first instance. If this recurs, the team will risk being disqualified. 6.3.5 Robots have to be principally students' own work. Any robot that appears to be identical to another robot may be prompted for re-inspection.
6.5 Sharing
6.5.1 The spirit of world RoboCup competitions is that any technological and curricular developments should be shared with other participants after the tournament. 6.5.2 Any developments may be published on the RoboCupJunior website after the event. 6.5.3 This furthers the mission of RoboCupJunior as an educational initiative.
6.6 Spirit
6.6.1 It is expected that all participants (students and mentors alike) will respect the RoboCupJunior mission. 6.6.2 The referees and officials will act within the spirit of the event. 6.6.3 It is not whether you win or lose, but how much you learn that counts!
Page 15 of 15