Rules

Robot Restrictions

• The robot must fit within a 14"x14" square (footprint).
• Balls must remain within 3 feet of the floor. Any ball shot over this height will be returned to the side from which it was shot.
• At most $100 of your own money may be spent on the robot. Purchased batteries, magnets, and launching devices must be approved by staff. If an item is donated rather than purchased, a fair market value is estimated and subtracted from your $100 allowed budget.
• A robot must not consume more than ~30 sensor points.
• Robots must be completely autonomous and started with the push of one button.
• Robots must stop automatically after 3 minutes.
• Robots must not touch the floor on the other side.

The Contest

There will be two robots run at a time, one on each side of the field. After the first run, the robots switch sides and run again. Each run is 3 minutes. An example field is shown below.

An Example Field. The arrows indicate starting position of the robots. All rectangles are walls, except for the purple stripe, which is a strip of tape.

Points will be scored as follows:

Possession: 1 point

A ball as defined as "possessed" if it moves when your robot moves.

'Near Region' balls: 3 points

All balls between the purple line and the yellow wall on a given side count for 3 points for the robot on the other side.

Balls in the green box: 3 points

Balls in the green box on a particular side count for 3 points for the robot on the other side.

'Far Region' balls: 5 points

All balls between the purple line and the back wall on a given side count for 5 points for the team on the other side.

Balls out of bounds: -5 points

All balls put out of bounds will count for a penalty of -5, and the balls will be replaced somewhere between the purple line and the back wall on the offending team's side.

Over time penalty: -5 points/10 seconds

For every 10 seconds beyond the 3 minute time limit that the robot is still moving, a 5 point penalty is applied.

All points other than the "Out of bounds" penalty will be assessed at the end of the run. This mean that if a ball is lobbed over the wall and then returned, it counts for no points for the team that did the initial lobbing.

Also note that we guarantee that the initial number of points the field is worth is equal on both sides. Between runs all balls are placed back in the same spots they were in before. There is also an indicated starting position for each robot, so this is also consistent between runs.

There will be a calibration area set up during the final competition, so robots' cameras can be calibrated appropriately.

Field Description

• All walls are 6in high with a ~1 in blue strip along the top.
• The wall between the sides is yellow.
• The walls comprising the scoring box are green.
• All other walls are white.
• Balls will be red.
• The near side of the scoring box will be between 16in and 20in from the yellow wall (and essentially parallel).
• The scoring box will have an interior size of at least 10in by 10in.
• All corridors will be at least 16in wide.
• Walls will not meet at less than a 45 degree angle.