RSSC - Robotics Society of Southern California

January 2006 Results
  1st - Jeff Smith
  2nd - Jim Ubersetzig
  3rd - Jeff Dunker
  4th - Gary Smith
  5th - John Davis
  6th - George Mitsuoka

  More Pictures

RSSC Line Following Competition

11 June 2005

These are the contest rules for the Line Following Contest to be held at RSSC meetings.

Robot Society of Southern California

Rules of Contest
(NOTE: All terms in quotes have specific meanings or dimensions that are described in detail later in the rules.)

    - The "contestants" will compete to follow a black line on a white background.
    - There will be straightaways, turns, and crossings.
    - The exact details of the course will not be known before the contest.
    - Calibration Period: On the day of the contest, some of the "tiles" will be assembled on the floor to provide at least one "standard calibration area" for use by the "contestants" to practice.
    - Contest Start: When the contest start is announced, all "tiles" will be collected together, thrown on the floor and will be arranged to form a curved black track on a white background. An instant photograph or drawing shall be made to document the path to be followed (1).
    - Starting Order: Contestant starting order will be chosen by random drawing. The tiles shall not be rearranged between contestants. If necessary, masking tape will be applied only at the tile corners to attach the tiles together.
    - When it is your turn: place the robot on the beginning of the black line. Activate and walk away from the robot.
    - Prohibited Items: Other than following the black line, nothing may be used to guide the "contestant". This includes any device that transmits, receives, or reflects any energy, such as acoustic/sonar, microwave, radio wave (HF, RF, UHF, etc.), light, laser, or infrared energy.

Contestants
    - All contestants shall be Autonomous Mobile Robots.
    - By autonomous we mean that once started - the robot proceeds without external equipment. External equipment includes humans. External equipment also includes external computers.
    - Size is limited. Dimensions shall not exceed :
        Length 12 inches max
        Width 12 inches max
        Weight is not limited.
    - Contestants should be able to go up or down 1/8 inch steps on an otherwise flat floor.

Tiles
    - A set of around 45 tiles will be provided at RSSC meetings for contestants to compete or practice.
    - The 45 tiles shall be 12 inch square white floor tiles. The tile thickness is about 1/16 inch.
    - Each tile will have a black track made from 3/4 inch wide electrical tape.     - The tile patterns shall be as shown below :

    - There will be about the same number of straight lines and curves.
    - There will be two or three crossing tiles in the set of tiles.
    - The curves will be as circular as possible, considering that the black track is made from adhesive tape, and the tiles might be made late at night.
    - So the radius of the curves will be about 6 inches.

Playing Field
    - With these three tile types, any maze can be assembled. And no doubt will be.
    - Photographs can be used to document the strange and unusual pathways produced by arranging the "tiles".
    - Since the tiles stack, they can be stored in a small space. This design is suitable for people who live in an apartment or condo, as only a small area is required to set up a line for your robot to follow. In fact, you can work on one robot behavior at a time (straight lines first, then corners, then crossings).

Scoring
    - A contestant has six minutes to accumulate points. Then the contestant shall be removed from the tiled area.
    - A contestant receives 10 points for each tile succesfully negotiated.
    - Point adjustments are as follows:
        +100 points for following the correct path at a crossing.
        -50 points if one of the contestants wheels falls off.
        -100 points each time that the contestants software is reloaded.
        -200 points if a contestant skips to another segment of the line.

Judges
    - The contests shall be judged by whatever honest people happen to be hanging around. Judges may not enter the contest.
    - Judges have 10 minutes to read and understand the rules before the contest begins.
    - Judges decisions are final.

Standard Calibration Area
Use the same "tiles" as the actual contest.

The pattern of the standard calibration area shall be :

Changes to the Rules
Rule changes must be aproved by the line game czar, which is Jim Ubersetzig.

Note (1) The intent is to very quickly document the maze design immediately before the robots try the maze. This is to minimize the chance of people modifying their robot's internal software to include detailed knowlege of the maze layout.

A prior years layout:

End of Rules