1. Arena.
1.1. Description:
1.1.1. The arena is modular. Each module can be thought of as a "room"
in a building. Modules may be placed adjacent to each other (on the
same level horizontally) or may be stacked vertically. Modules on the
same level are connected by level hallways. Modules on different levels
are connected by sloping hallways or ramps.
The ramp will not exceed an incline of 25 degrees from horizontal.
Building plans are linked on this site (see sidebar).
1.2. Size:
1.2.1. Each module is 48 inches by 36 inches in size (approximately 122
cm by 91 cm) with walls that are 11 inches high (approximately 28 cm).
1.3. Doorways:
1.3.1. Each room will have 2 doorways in standard locations (see
building plans). Robots will enter through one doorway and exit through
the other.
1.4. Floor:
1.4.1. The floor of each room will be a light colour (white, or close to white). The floor may be either flat or textured (like linoleum or carpet).
1.4.2. The arena should be placed so that the floors are flat and level.
1.5. Line:
1.5.1. On the floor, there will be a black line for the robots to
follow. The black line will be made with standard electrical
(insulating) tape, 1 - 2 cm wide. The black line traces a maze on the
floor. It may have 90 degree turns in it, turns of other angles or
curves. The line will never cross itself. The line will never come
closer than 4 inches (approximately 10 cm) to a wall or another line.
1.6. Connectivity:
1.6.1. The black line will enter and exit each room through the
standard doorways. The line will continue along the hallways and ramps
so that it creates a single route through all the modules in the arena. Any
straight section of the black line running alongside a wall may have
gaps of up to 10cm in it. A gap in the line may contain a victim.
1.7. Debris:
1.7.1. "Debris" may be located throughout the room
1.8.2. Two types of victims may be present:
1. victims constructed out of green tape or
2. victims constructed out of aluminized tape or aluminium foil.
1.8.3. The victims will be adhered flat across the black line.
1.8.4. The reflectances (to red light) of the silver bodies, white (or
close to white) floor, green bodies and black line will be well
separated, with the following gradation: silver bodies (brightest) >
floor > green bodies > black line (darkest).
1.9. Lighting:
1.9.1. Teams must come prepared to calibrate their robots based on the lighting conditions at the venue.
1.9.2. Lighting conditions may vary along the course in the rescue arena.
1.10. Magnetic conditions:
1.10.1. Every effort will be made by the organizers to locate the
rescue arena away from magnetic fields such as underfloor wiring and
metallic objects. However, sometimes this cannot be avoided.
Hint: It is recommended that teams design their robots to cope with
variations in lighting and magnetic conditions, as these vary from
venue to venue. Teams should come prepared to calibrate their robots
based on the conditions at the venue.
2. Robots.
2.1. Diameter:
2.1.1. The upright robot must fit inside an upright 22 cm diameter cylinder.
2.1.2. Robots will be measured with all parts fully extended.
2.2. Height:
2.2.1. The robot height must not exceed 22cm.
2.3. Control:
2.3.1. Robots must be controlled autonomously.
2.3.2. Robots must be started manually by humans.
2.3.3. The use of remote control of any kind is not allowed.
2.4. Team:
2.4.1. A team shall consist of one and only one (1) robot.
2.5. Construction:
2.5.1. Any robot kit or building block, either
available on the market or built from raw hardware, may be used, as
long as the robot fits the above specifications and as long as the
design and construction are primarily and substantially the original
work of the students (see section below).
2.6. Programming:
2.6.1. The programming of the robot must allow a 4-second time delay from starting the program to when the robot starts moving.
3. Inspection.
3.1. Schedule:
3.1.1. The robots will be examined by a panel of referees before the
start of the tournament to ensure that they meet the constraints
described above.
3.1.2. It is the responsibility of teams to have their robots
re-inspected if their robots are modified at any time during the
tournament.
3.2. Robot configuration:
3.2.1. While being inspected, each robot must be upright and at its
maximum size; i.e. anything that protrudes from the robot must be fully
extended.
3.3. Students:
3.3.1. Students will be asked to explain the operation of their robot
in order to verify that the construction and the programming of the
robot are their own work.
3.3.2. Students will be asked questions about their preparation
efforts, and they may be requested to answer surveys and participate in
video-taped interviews for research purposes.
3.4. Violations:
3.4.1. Any violations of the inspection rules will prevent that robot competing until modifications are effected.
3.4.2. However, modifications must be made within the time schedule of
the tournament and teams must not delay tournament play while making
modifications.
3.4.3. If a robot fails to meet all specifications (even with
modification), the robot will be disqualified from that round (but not
from the tournament).
3.4.4. If there is excessive mentor assistance or the work on the
robots is not substantially original work by the students, then the
team will be disqualified from the tournament.
4. Play.
4.1. Pre-round setup:
4.1.1. Organizers will make every effort to
provide the teams access to the competition area for calibration,
testing and tuning before the start of the competition.
4.1.2. Organizers will make every effort to allow at least 10 minutes of setup time before each round.
Hint: Participants should be aware, however, that situations may
arise where these conditions cannot be met; and so participants should
arrive prepared to cope under conditions that are less than ideal.
4.2. Length of round:
4.2.1. Robots will be given a maximum time of 10 minutes to complete
the course. The time for each round will be kept by the referee.
4.3. Start of play:
4.3.1. To begin, the robot is placed by the referee at its starting location in the doorway at the beginning of the black line.
4.3.2. Teams that are late for their starting time will forfeit the round.
4.4. Humans:
4.4.1. In general, movement of robots by humans is not acceptable.
4.4.2. Humans can only move robots when told to do so by the referee.
4.4.3. Before the start of each round, teams should designate one human
who will act as "Captain", and be allowed to start the robot, based on
the stated rules and as directed by the referee.
4.4.4. Other team members within the vicinity of the rescue arena are
to remain seated while the robot is active, unless otherwise directed
by the referee.
4.5. Objective:
4.5.1. The robots have to follow the black line and attempt to complete the course through the entire field.
4.5.2. Robots are rewarded for locating "victims" on the course.
4.5.3. Robots are rewarded for successfully negotiating gaps in the black line.
4.5.4. Robots are rewarded for successfully avoiding items of debris blocking the black line.
4.5.5. Robots are rewarded for successfully entering a room through one doorway and exiting through the other doorway.
4.5.6. Robots are rewarded for successfully climbing the ramp without any assistance.
4.6. Lack of progress:
4.6.1. Lack of progress occurs if the robot is stuck in the same place for at least 20 seconds.
4.6.2. In case of lack of progress, the referee may pick up the robot
and move it to a nearby point on the black line for it to attempt to
complete the course.
4.6.3. The referee will not turn off the robot or restart its program.
4.6.4. A team may elect to stop the round early if the lack of progress
is caused by a faulty robot. In this case, the team captain must
indicate to the referee the team's desire to terminate. The team will
be awarded all points achieved thus far.
5. Scoring.
5.1. Victims:
5.1.1. Ten (10) points will be awarded for each victim located by the
robot. The robot indicates that it has found a victim by stopping,
beeping and flashing a lamp for at least four (4) seconds.
5.2. Gaps in the black line:
5.2.1. Ten (10) points are awarded for each gap in the black line that
the robot successfully negotiates (i.e. recovers the line on the far
side of the gap).
5.3. Debris blocking the black line:
5.3.1. Ten (10) points are awarded for each item of debris blocking the
black line that the robot successfully avoids (i.e., moves around the
debris and recovers the line).
5.4. Rooms:
5.4.1. Ten (10) points are awarded for each room that the robot
navigates successfully (i.e., enters through one doorway and exits
through the other doorway).
5.5. Ramp:
5.5.1. Thirty (30) points are awarded for the robot successfully climbing the ramp without any assistance.
6. Conflict resolution.
6.1. Tie breaks:
6.1.1. Ties in scoring will be resolved on the basis of the time taken by each robot to complete the course.
6.2. Referee:
6.2.1. During game play, the referee's decisions are final.
6.3. Rule clarification:
6.3.1. Rule clarification may be made by members of the RoboCupJunior International Technical Committee.
6.4. Special circumstances:
6.4.1. Specific modifications to the rules to allow for special
circumstances, such as unforeseen problems and/or capabilities of a
team's robot, may be agreed to at the time of the tournament, provided
a majority of the contestants agree.
7. Documentation.
7.1. Reporting:
7.1.1. All teams must bring written documentation describing their preparation efforts.
7.2. Poster:
7.2.1. Teams will be given public space (approximately 100 cm by 200 cm) to display their materials on a poster board.
7.3. Presentation:
7.3.1. Officials will review the documentation and discuss the contents with team members.
7.3.2. A prize will be awarded to teams with outstanding presentations.
7.4. Sharing:
7.4.1. Teams are encouraged to view one another's posters.
8. Code of Conduct.
8.1. Fair Play:
8.1.1. Robots that cause deliberate damage to the arena will be disqualified.
8.1.2. Humans that cause deliberate interference with robots or damage to the arena will be disqualified.
8.1.3. It is expected that the aim of all teams is to participate fairly.
8.2. Behaviour:
8.2.1. All movement and behaviour are to be of a subdued nature within the tournament venue.
8.2.2. Competitors are not to enter setup areas of other leagues or
other teams, unless expressly invited to do so by team members.
8.2.3. Participants who misbehave may be asked to leave the building and risk being disqualified from the tournament.
8.2.4. These rules will be enforced at the discretion of the referees,
officials, conference organizers and local law enforcement authorities.
8.3. Mentors:
8.3.1. Mentors (teachers, parents, chaperones and other adult team-members) are not allowed in the student work area.
8.3.2. Sufficient seating will be supplied for Mentors to remain in a supervisory capacity around the student work area.
8.3.3. Mentors are not to repair robots or be involved in programming of students' robots.
8.3.4. 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.
8.4. Sharing:
8.4.1. An understanding that has been a part of world RoboCup
Competitions is that any technological and curricular developments
should be shared with other participants after the competition.
8.4.2. Any developments may be published on the RoboCupJunior website after the event.
8.4.3. This furthers the mission of RoboCupJunior as an educational initiative.
8.5. Spirit:
8.5.1. It is expected that all participants, Students and Mentors alike, will respect the RoboCupJunior mission.
8.5.2. The referees and officials will act within the spirit of the event.
8.5.3. It is not whether you win or lose, but how much you learn that counts!