| |
A number of people have asked me to post the rules for a robot competition
that we had at my place in January of this year. The competition is called
"Maxwell's Demons" after the imaginary quantum physics entity that tries to
separate all the hot molecules from the cold ones in a room. The name was
chosen because it exhibits the essence of the game, separating white from
black cubes, as well as because we fully expected the robots to look like a
bunch of demons running around on the board, trying to sort the blocks.
After the competition it was apparent that we needed to change a couple of
minor things, which I have done for the rules posted here. These will be
the rules that we use next time the competition is run by me, but obviously
others are welcome to modify them as they see fit for their own purposes.
(For instance, a playing field with walls might be an interesting variation!)
You can see some videos of the competition in the second half of this page:
http://www.lugnet.com/org/us/smart/~48/meetings/2001/01
With the following official rules, my aim wasn't to take every eventuality
into consideration, but more to give the details that are required to build
and program a robot, and the mechanics of running the competition. I
assumed that the contestants would be mature enough to not try to obviously
take advantage of any major loopholes. [An example of this for a line
following competition might be to build one so wide that it could 'follow'
the line without having to make any turns at all. Follow the spirit of
these rules.]
--
David Schilling
Maxwell's Demons -- Official Rules
==================================
OBJECT:
The object of the competition is build a robot that will push as many
*white* LEGO cubes to its own side of the playing field as it can, at the
same time pushing as many *black* LEGO cubes to its opponent's side.
FIELD:
The playing field is a flat, raised, 60"x80" surface, divided into two
coloured regions. The regions are 30"x80" in size; one will be white, the
other black. These colours will be flat, that is, non-glossy. There may be
a 'seam' between the two sides, with one side or part thereof slightly
higher or lower than the other side. Make sure you take this into
consideration when you build your robot. It will be randomly decided at the
beginning of each match which side of the table each contestant will place
their robots on.
CUBES:
The LEGO cubes are built out of standard LEGO bricks. There will be 16
white cubes and 16 black cubes on the field. Eight of each colour will be
placed randomly on each half of the field. [Instructions for building your
own cubes: Take six 2x4 stud bricks, and assemble them into a cube (2 per
layer, three layers, alternating orientation for each layer) and finally top
them off with tiles. EG: four tiles, either 1x4 or 2x2 will do.]
ROUNDS:
For each round, after the cubes are randomly placed, the robots will be
placed on the field by their creators. The robot on the white side will be
placed first. Placement must be at least 6 inches from the boundary between
sides and at least one inch from any cube of any colour. Once both robots
are placed, at a signal, the start buttons on the robots will be pushed.
Rounds last three minutes. If a robot leaves the playing field, (by being
pushed off by its opponent, or accidentally driving itself off) it will be
required to stay off for fifteen seconds and then must be replaced as near
as possible to the place it went off, but facing any desired direction. The
round continues until the time limit is reached. [It is suggested, but not
mandatory that the first action of the robot is to calibrate it's light
sensors to the two sides of the field, as well as the LEGO blocks, as
lighting conditions will likely be quite different from where you programmed
your robot.]
SCORING:
The score for a round will be determined by the number of white blocks
entirely on a robot's starting side minus the number of black blocks
entirely on the robot's starting side. Blocks touching the dividing line or
pushed off the field during the round do not count. The robot with the
highest score wins the round and is awarded two points. A tie will give
both robots one point.
MATCHES:
There will be two rounds per pair of robots, with the sides switched each
time. No changes in programming or construction of the robot is allowed,
though minor repairs or battery replacements are allowed. There will be a
maximum of one minute between rounds for these repairs.
ROBOTS:
Robots may only use a single RCX. This may be their only computing device.
They must use only unmodified LEGO parts, and may not contain any non-LEGO
parts. No gluing or taping, etc. is allowed. Robots should fit in a cube
18 inches on a side.
Robots may not 'hoard' cubes. Picking up one cube at a time, or pushing
several around at once, as long as they are not deep in the bowels of your
robot, is allowed. But collecting a large number with the upshot that the
other robot cannot access them (whether intentional or accidental) is not
allowed. Such a robot forfeits the round.
Robots must be autonomous, and must remain connected throughout a round,
accidental pieces breaking off excepted. Robots may not intentionally
damage their competitors, and may not interfere with their programming. The
only messages a robot may send are message numbers 201 and up. [Reasons to
send messages include trying to locate blocks; reasons not to include the
other robot using them to home in on you!]
EXPERT DIVISION:
The standard competition has only one robot per side. If there is interest,
and at least two competitors, a robot-team variation is as follows:
Each player must have two robots that are initially placed on the same side.
(Players alternate placing their two robots, white side going first.) Each
robot must conform to the rules above (one RCX per robot, etc.) with the
following exception: If they wish to communicate with each other, they must
follow this protocol: the robots initially on the white side may only use
messages 1-100; the robots initially on the black side may only use messages
101-200. No use of messages 201 and up is allowed. Divide up the work
between the robots any way you wish!
|
|
Message has 1 Reply:
3 Messages in This Thread:
  
- Entire Thread on One Page:
- Nested:
All | Brief | Compact | Dots
Linear:
All | Brief | Compact
|
|
|
|
