Embedded Motion Control/Escape Room Competition 2018

Scheme of a possible Escape Room, with measurements, but not up to scale!

Challenge Specifications

• You have finished the assignment if PICO did not bump into walls and the entire rear wheel is across the finish line.
• Do not touch the walls! Slightly touching is allowed, however, bumping (i.e., driving head-on into a wall) is not allowed! If PICO hits the wall, we decide whether it counts as bumping.
• Every team has two trials (= max one restart). A trial ends if:
  • PICO bumps into the wall
  • PICO has not moved or has not made sensible movements (as judged by the tutors) for 30 seconds
  • The total time limit of 5 minutes per group is reached
  • The group requests a restart (on the first trial)
• restart means:
  • PICO restarts at the defined start position
  • The trail time (= the time graded) is reset, but
  • the total time keeps running
• Maximum speed (is limited in PICO): 0.5 m/s translational, 1.2 rad/s rotational.
• There will be no second attempt if first attempt was successful

On the right you can find one example of a Escape Room Challenge.

Environment Specifications

• The shape of the room is rectangular, the dimensions will not be given before the start of the challenge.
• PICO starts at a random position in the room (but equal for all groups), PICO does not necessarily face the exit, nor a straight wall.
• The orientation of the corridor will be perpendiculair to the wall.
• The wall (on the far end) of the corridor will be open
• The walls might not be perfectly straight, the corners might not be perfectly perpendicular, the walls of the corridor might not be perfectly parallel. The width of the corridor will be reasonable (somewhere between 0.5 and 1.5 meters).
• At the exit, the finish line is located more than 3 m into the corridor. The walls that can be used to align PICO will be a little bit longer.

Robot Software

• Make sure your software is easy to set-up, i.e:
  • Your software can be updated with one easy command, e.g. 'git pull'
  • Your software can be compiled using 'cmake' and 'make'
  • To start your software, only one executable has to be called
  • If your set-up deviates from this method, let your tutor know 1 week before the challenge!
• The software of all groups will be updated on the robot before the challenge starts
  • This way, teams starting the challenge have as much time as teams that do the challenge at the end

Find the configuration file and the map of the Escape Room challenge here.