Team Eligibility
- Competitors must be current students at any Australian or New Zealand University/TAFE or equivalent.
- Maximum of 6 official members per team. We recommend having at least 4 per team: 2 software programmers; 1 in charge of electrical and 1 for mechanical requirements for each team.
- Participating institutions must have no more than three teams competing.
- This competition is designed for undergraduate students, therefore a maximum of 1 postgraduate student is allowed per team.
- Each university will be required to have at least one staff supervisor contact us by June 9th for a progress update to ensure that the team(s) will meet the requirements and rules of the challenge and be ready by the final.
- This will include each team to submit a short video diary/showcase/logbook of their robot so far.
The Robot
- The droid must use computer vision to sense the track, obstacles and other droids.
- The total budget of the final product must be no more than $1500 AUD. As all components will be at the expense of the teams, a budget limit is imposed to ensure a level playing field.
- Droids must have a method to wirelessly start and stop, and stop automatically within 5 metres of finishing the race.
- Each robot will be scrutineered on the day of the competition and if it does not meet the specifications it will not be allowed to compete.
Specifications:
- Each droid must have an outer shell that covers at least (80%) of the droid, visible from all directions, and must be red. .
- Droids must not have blue or yellow components on the back or sides of the chassis.
- Droids must not be designed to intentionally interfere with and/or damage other robots
- Width: Less than 400mm
- Height: Less than 350mm
- Length: Less than 800mm
- Processing: Any, off board is also OK
- Software: Any software may be used.
- Power: Any (avoid large capacitors, see FAQ)
- Sensing: On-board sensors only, no GPS, no remote control, no Lidar technology. The main guidance system must be computer vision based. There is an exemption for on-board sensors for detecting obstacles. Provided they are not banned as per the list above.
The Track
- The droids will be racing indoors
- Coloured tape (blue and yellow) will indicate the left and right boundaries of the track.
- Droids must not drive over the blue or yellow boundary lines. Droids that do will be handicapped by a time penalty.
- The finish line will be indicated by a solid green line.
- The width of the track will range between 1 and 2 meters.
- The track will have obstacles that the droids must aim to avoid. If a collision occurs the team will incur a time penalty
- Be prepared. As the track is now indoors and the biggest challenge has been removed (the lighting changes and sun glare) be ready for some different obstacles and challenges to previous years.
Obstacles
- 400mm x 400mm and 500mm tall
- Purple
- Obstacle placement may vary from round to round, becoming increasingly challenging in later rounds.
- Up to 1 (one) obstacle for thin parts of the course (1m wide).
- Up to 2 (two) obstacles for wide parts of the course (2m wide).
- There will always be a clear space of at least 600mm for the droid.
- Track and obstacles will be designed so an Ackermann steering based droid will be able to navigate (i.e. corners won’t be too sharp)
Winners
- The winning droid of the Droid Racing Competition will be the droid that completes the lap in the shortest possible time.
- In the case of no clear winner, or neither droid completing the lap, third-party adjudicators will determine the outcome.
