2011 Competition Rules
Discussion at the Google Group for DC2011.
Some of these rules may be changed from what is written below to ensure the competition is as fun and interesting as possible. The rules will be finalized by early winter quarter at the latest.
Summary
The game will be played by two robots in a rectangular arena. The robots have two minutes to gather cylindrical objects(called "cakes" until someone thinks of a better name). Each robot is assigned a color, say blue and orange (colors subject to change to optimize contrast).
Robots score points in three ways:
Depositing cakes on their side of the arena (the arena is divided into a blue side and an orange side).
Depositing cakes in a bonus zone toward the rear of each side will score extra points.
One face of each cake is colored blue, the other side orange. Robots can score points by flipping cakes so that their color is up.
Simple robots can compete by gathering up cakes, while more sophisticated ones can take on the mechanical challenge of flipping cakes to have the right color up or the challenge of navigating to bonus zones.
Arena
Click here to see a detailed drawing of the arena: Arena
The arena layout is below. Its dimension will be about 10' by 8'. The two halves will be painted blue and orange. A line will be painted on this to guide robots to some of the cakes, but robots need not follow the line. Cakes can also be found using the retroreflective tape around their sides. The arena will be surrounded by a low wall (~4"), and there will be two low walls shielding the bonus ones. Depositing cakes in your bonus zone is worth more points than leaving them elsewhere on your side of the arena. Your bonus zone is the approximately 1.5' x 1.5' region behind the low wall on your side of the course. There will likely be some lines on the ground to delineate the bonus zone which do not appear below.
Details
Scoring
A cake completely on your side of the arena is worth one point to your team. To this add one point if the cake is flat on the floor with the top face showing your color. To this, add one point if the the cake is completely inside your bonus zone. For example:
Cake on blue side with orange face showing, not in bonus zone -- worth one point to blue team.
Cake on blue side with blue face showing, not in bonus zone -- worth two points to blue team.
Cake on blue side with orange face showing, in bonus zone -- worth two points to blue team.
Cake on blue side with blue face showing, in bonus zone -- worth three points to blue team.
Cake on blue side, lying on its edge, in bonus zone -- worth two points to blue team.
Under this scoring system, none of the above give any points to the orange team, even if the orange side is face up, as all of the above cakes are on the blue side. Cakes straddling the centerline give neither team points: they must be completely on one side or the other. Cakes must also be completely inside the bonus zone to give the bonus point: that is, they must be completely behind the semicircular wall.
The points system is subject to change to balance the game. On competition day, any scoring disputes will be decided by the judges.
Robots
Robots must fit in a 12" by 12" square at all times. No height limit. All robots will use the same motors for locomotion to provide a level playing field; these motors will be provided to teams. Robots will be able to run into each other, but no sort of offensive weapon or shape is allowed (spears, ramps, saw blades, EMPs...). Blocking or pushing the other robot is a valid strategy, but you may not attempt to damage or disable or flip the other robot. Robots will start in the indicated positions. A small mark will be made on each side of the arena to indicate the starting positions; a team may place their robot in any orientation as long as it covers the starting mark.
Robots will only be permitted to carry or enclose up to three cakes at once. This is to prevent robots from hoarding up all the cakes and only dropping them at the end of the round. We're unclear how much of an issue this will be, and this rule might be modified or dropped as the group sees fit.
Sensing
Robots can find some of the cakes by following the white lines on the course. To help find the others, the cakes will be coated with retroreflective tape around the curved sides. This tape reflects light back in whichever direction it comes from, so that a simple sensor composed of a laser and a photodiode can detect cakes at quite a distance by looking for the reflection from the tape. The mechatronics lab stocks small, easy-to-use laser diodes. Robots can sense the color of the floor with a simple light sensor to determine whether they are on their side or the opponent's side, so that they can know where to deposit the cakes. Robots can find the bonus zone by looking for an intersection of white lines or by finding the curved walls and tossing cakes over.
We will attempt to get the colors right so that telling the difference between them is easy with simple reflectivity sensors. Ideally, robots will be able to treat them as three shades of gray and tell them apart with a simple reflectivity sensor like this one, which the mechatronics lab stocks.