RoboColumbus Plus -2024: Results, Robot Interviews, and Run Videos

Posted on November 25, 2024December 5, 2024 by Robie_robot

DPRG’s RoboColumbus Outdoor Rover competition for 2024 was held on November 23. The competition was hosted by the Edward’s family, which is greatly appreciated by DPRG. The morning started out with the course layout. Donuts and coffee were provided for the judges and competitors. While the course details were finalized and the cone waypoints handed out, competitors made final checks on their robots and used the practice cones to set up vision systems. At midday, pizza was served, then the competition started. Each competing robot was allowed 3 runs. Winners were based on the best runs of each robot. Everyone had a good time.

Results:

Competitor / Robot	Run 1	Run 2	Run 3
Paul Bouchier / MowBot 1st place	4	⭐9⭐	–
Scott Gibson / B.E.L.C.H 2nd place	6	0	7
Scott Gibson / T.U.R.D 3rd place	3	3	6
Ray Casler / Flakey mug winner	0	0	2
David Steele / Marty mug winner	0	1	0

Robot Interviews:
Paul Bouchier – MowBot: MowBot Interview

David Steel – Marty: Marty Interview

Ray Casler – Flakey: Flakey Interview

Scott Gibson – B.E.L.C.H: Belch Interview

Scott Gibson – T.U.R.D: T.U.R.D. Interview

Carl Ott – Duct Tape and Bailing Wire: Duct Tape and Bailing Wire Interview

Robot Run Videos:

Paul Bouchier – Mowbot: run-1 – run-2 Paul achieved the first “perfect score” had at the Edward’s property on run 2.

Scott Gibson’s B.E.L.C.H. robot: run-1 – run-2 – run-3A – run-3B

Scott Gibson’s T.U.R.D. robot: run-1 – run-2 – run-3

Ray Casler’s Flakey robot: run-1 – run-2 – run-3

David Steel’s Marty robot: run-1 – run-2 – run-3

Robot run videos are very helpful in showing the unexpected tribulations that the robots endure while attempting the tasks of the competition. Even runs that did not go well often have lessons.

RoboColumbus-Plus Remote Location Guidelines and Rules Update

Posted on April 25, 2021April 25, 2021 by Robie_robot

The RoboColumbus-Plus competition page has been updated with guidelines detailing how to join this year’s competition from a remote location. DPRG hopes that the many friends and potential friends who can’t travel to the local Dallas competition can join by setting up a remote course and using Google Meet to participate in the fun and challenges of an outdoor rover competition.

The RoboColumbus-Plus rules have been updated to add a new contest category and challenge. Participants now have the option of running their robot in the “robot-planned” category and taking the 3-waypoint challenge. In this challenge, the robot must depend completely on it algorithms to complete the course with only 3 target waypoints. The robot’s owner is not allowed to pre-walk the course during the competition or use additional waypoints besides the 3 given by the judges.

Fall Competition 2019 Highlights

Posted on November 17, 2019December 15, 2019 by Robie_robot

The FALL competition for 2019 has come and gone. It was casual, exciting, and a lot of fun. Great progress was shown by several competitors.

Some highlights were:

Ross Melbourne’s Donkey Car completed 20 flawless laps (score: 80) within the 5-minute time limit of the Donkey Car competition on a course with an inside boundary length of ~50 feet (course is visible in the image above) . Unfortunately we lost the video of the 1st run, but see the video for the 2nd run below.
Carl Ott, Ray Casler, and Clay Timmons were all able to finish the Challenge Line Following course with 4 interventions. Each competitor showing great progress from previous attempts. Carl was able to reach block 5D before requiring an assist.
Carl Ott debuted his modified version of the 2016 Club Robot in the Quick Trip competition, taking first place with a perfect score of 7 in a time of 14.77 seconds.
Scott Gibson continued to rule the 6-Can competition, collecting all 6 cans in 1:42 minutes.