DATE CHANGE: From 11/9 to 11/16
The DPRG’s Fall Competition is on November 9th! We have about two months to get ready. The Fall Competition is a low pressure, friendly competition where hobby roboticists of all skill levels can play with their robots. It is an excellent time for beginners to test their first robot, or old hands to explore new ideas and methods. Details and contest rules for the competition are at Fall Competition.
DPRG is encouraging every member to try and compete in at least one contest. The contests are open to the public. Anyone can compete (student teams are encouraged) and all are welcome to watch.
New to the hobby?
Not sure if you are ready to compete?
There are two contests just for you. “Basic line following” tests your robot’s ability to follow a line with gentle curves. “Quick Trip” tests whether your robot can drive in a straight line, turn around, and drive back to its starting location.
Want a slightly bigger challenge?
There are two intermediate contests that may appeal to you. “Advanced line following” which adds several harder elements to the line following course. “Six-Can” where your robot attempts to remove 6 florescent orange soda cans from an arena. Robots participating in “Six-Can” often use computer vision to assist with the task, however the problem has been solved using nothing fancier than an ultrasonic distance sensor and odometry.
None of the above interests you?
Want a true challenge?
There are three advanced contests that will allow you to show your hobbyist roboticist chops. “Challenge line following” which takes line following to another level. The course includes background / line color switches, line width variations, tricky elements, and more to test your robot’s skills. You have to see the course to appreciate it (see: Challenge LF course). There is “Donkey Car” where small robots run a course using vision, learned speed and steering inputs, and utilize a neural network to determine outputs. Finally, there is “Sample Retrieval” where your robot starts at a home location and must return 5 specific generic items spread around the room on the floor to home base in a given time. This contest begs for the use of AI “object recognition”. Note: All Sample Retrieval objects are available every Tuesday night at Robot Builders Night Out (RBNO).
All contests require that your robot be autonomous. No robot drivers here…