Mars Manoeuvre

8/8/2019 Mars Manoeuvre

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Mars Manoeuvre

Introduction

After a spectacular success of Phoenix Mars Landers Space expedition, various methods are being

evolved and identified to make it a bigger success the next time. Various space research

organizations are planning to send out a multi robot system such that a desired collective

behaviour emerges from the interactions between the robots and interactions of robots with the

environment.

With flavours of Mechanical Challenges and Swarm Intelligence, Mars Manoeuvre introduces you

to a completely new challenge of a manned spacecraft mission. The Space craft has to overcome

the harsh terrain of Mars and successfully land the autonomous family of swarm bots on the

planet to retrieve small rock samples back to the space ship in a specified order so that the

collection can be organized. In the competition, the rocks are modelled as blocks.

The purpose of collecting rock is to discover if life ever existed on mars. If it did, the life cycle of

mars may be used to learn important information for us here on earth.

Get ready with your Shuttle crew and start planning for an exciting Mission to Mars. The destiny

of future life is in your hand...

Problem Statement

Build manual and autonomous machines which cooperate and collaborate to bring back blocks

placed randomly on a grid.

After starting, manual robot can assist the autonomous robot(s) from the starting square past the

hazards into the 1-Block zone. From there the autonomous robot(s) must find and deposit the

blocks to the 1-Block zone, from where the manual robot will pick up and store the blocks. When

all the blocks have been collected, the manual robot can again assist the autonomous robots backto the starting square. When they are all back the run is finished.

Arena

1) Central Zone: Coloured black in figure 2.This zone will consist of a 6 x 6 squares grid of white lines on a black surface. The lines will be

equally spaced. Each cell of the grid will be a square with inner dimensions 220 mm x 220 mm (See

figure 1). The thickness of each white line is 30 mm.


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2) 1-Block Zone: Coloured blue in figure 2.The white line between the 1-Block zone and the Central zone is considered to be part of the 1-Block Zone.

3) Arena Wall hazard will consist of a wooden wall of thickness 36 mm and height 100 mm from thearena surface (See figure 1).

4) The Circular Bump hazards will have a diameter of50 mm and length 900 mm. There will be 2 suchbumps and they will be separated by a distance of50 mm between them.

5) It will have a diameter of 50 mm and length 1800 mm. There will be 2 such bumps and will beseparated by a distance of50 mm between them, edge to edge(i.e. 100 mm centre to centre).

6) Starting Zone: Coloured Yellow in figure 2.At the start of each run, the manual as well as the autonomous bot must be placed within thissquare of500 mm x 500 mm(l x b).

7) A Block is a 100 mm x 100 mm x 100 mm. There will be 2 types of blocks, 2 of each type, with 4blocks in total.

Block A - The colour of the block will be white.2 such blocks will be placed randomly in the grid

(see figure 3).

Block B Each of its 4 vertical faces will be divided into 2 equal halves. The colour of the upper

half will be black. The colour of the lower half will be white. Its 2 flat faces will be white.2 such

blocks will be placed randomly in the grid (see figure 4).

The block is made of non-magnetic material and will have a maximum weight of60 gms. The

pictures of the block are given below.Each block will be placed such that it coincides with the

centre point of a grid intersection as closely as possible. The blocks will be placed randomly in the

central zone. This results in 42 possible block locations.

8) Spot Zones A and B: It has a dimension of 200 mm x 200 mm. After restarts for autonomousmachine A and B respectively, they will be placed in their respective spot zones.

9) The dimensions of the arena would be accurate to within 5% or 20 mm, whichever is less.Assembly joints on the arena floor will not involve steps greater than 0.5 mm.

10)The actual arena will be similar to figure 1. Figure 2 has been coloured just to specify the variouszones.


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Figure 1: 3d Arena

Figure 2: Arena with zones


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4) The autonomous machine must be stable and must stand on its own at the beginning of the racewhen put in the start zone. Machines not fulfilling this criterion will be disqualified.

5) During the run, the autonomous machine can expand itself provided it does not damage the arenain anyway. However, it is not allowed to leave anything behind or make any marks while traversing

the grid. All machines found damaging the arena will be immediately disqualified. The final

decision is at the discretion of the judges.

6) The autonomous machine should not separate or split into two or more units.7) It should be completely autonomous.8) The methods of collection and delivery of the blocks are at the discretion of the builder. But use of

ready-made mechanical kits is not allowed.

9) The teams are allowed to use ready-made wireless modules/ready-made micro-controllerboards/ready-made sensor kits.

Power Supply and Propulsion1) The machines have to use an on-board power supply. No external power supply will be allowed.2) Each team shall bring its own power supply for all its machines.3) The potential difference between any two points on any of the machines must not exceed 24 V

DC.

4) In case the machine is using a non-electric power supply, kindly get it approved from theorganizers beforehand via email. Organizers are not responsible for inconvenience if approval is

not sought.

Controls1) The autonomous machine should not receive any input from outside the arena. They are however

encouraged to communicate wirelessly with the other autonomous machine in the arena for

cooperative benefits.

2) The manual machine should not receive any wireless input from outside the arena. It can becontrolled using a wired remote control.

3) No wireless communication between autonomous and manual machine is allowed. The team isresponsible for proving this to the Judges.

Rules

Game Rules1) The maximum time given for completing the task is 6 minutes. Maximum oftwo runs will be given

to a team (Best score from the 2 runs will be considered as the teams score).

2) At the start of the task the manual machine as well as autonomous machine will be placed in thestarting zone. Only 1 member from the team is allowed to be near the game field while starting

the machine.


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3) The manualmachine must be started by only 1 switch. The starting procedure of the machineshould be simple and should not involve giving machine any manual force or impulse in any

direction.

4) Each team is allowed a maximum ofthreerestartsfor the manual machine. All restarts require theapproval of the presiding Judges before the manual machine can be handled by the team.During a

restart timer will not be set back to zero

5) During a restart for the manual machine, the manual machine will have to be restarted by puttingit back to the starting zone. Any autonomous machine in contact with the manual machine should

also be put back to the starting zone along with the manual machine. The team can also opt for

the autonomous machine already transferred to the other side of the wall to be put back to the

starting zone along with the manual machine.

6) During restart for the manual machine, a contestant cannot feed information about the grid to theautonomous machine. However, contestants are allowed to: Adjust position, Change speed

settings and Make repairs. However, a contestant may not alter a machine in a manner that alters

its weight (e.g. removal of a bulky sensor array or switching to lighter batteries to get better

speed). The judges shall arbitrate. The points earned by the team till that time will be retained.

7) For each restart for the manual machine, the team will incur a penalty of 15 points.8) No part of the manual machine at any point of time should cross the initial line(labelled in figure).9) Any part of the mechanical machine which completely crosses the initial line is said to be crossing

the initial line. If any part of the machine is partially on the initial line, it wont be considered to be

crossing the initial line.

10)The 1-block zone permits at most one block carrying machine inside it at a time.Block carrying machine Autonomous machine carrying a block.

11)An autonomous machine which is partially/completely over the 1-block zone, as defined in arenaspecifications rule, is said to be in the 1-block zone.

12)For 2 autonomous machines A and B, the machine A can carry only Block A in the 1-block zoneand the machine B can carry only Block B in the 1-block zone. Each time this rule is violated the

team will incur a penalty of 15 points.

13)If the team has only 1 autonomous machine A, the machine A will have to bring blocks A andB alternatively in the 1-block zone. Each time this rule is violated the team will incur a penalty of

15 points.

14)If any part of the block is in contact with the autonomous machine, the autonomous machine issaid to carry that block.

15)During the run if any block gets displaced from its original location and lies somewhere else in thecentral zone, it will be picked up and put back to any other random grid point.

16)Each team is allowed a maximum offiverestartsfor the autonomous machine(s).17)If at any point of time, the machine does not move from its position or travels out of the grid, the

team can opt for a restart. The team will incur a penalty of 15 points.

18)During a restart for a particular autonomous machine, theautonomous machine will have to berestarted by putting it back in the respective Spot Zone (autonomous machine A will be placed in

Spot Zone A while autonomous machine B will be placed in Spot Zone B). The team can also opt

for restarting both the autonomous machines (this will be counted as a single restart). In this case

both the machines will have to be restarted by putting it back in the respective Spot


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Zones(autonomous machine A will be placed in Spot Zone A and autonomous machine B will be

placed in Spot Zone B).

19) For a restart, the machine will have to be in Power Off mode. And turned on again in the spotzones on the signal of the judges. In a restart, the timer will not be set back to zero.

20)During restarts for autonomous machine(s), a contestant cannot feed information about the gridto the machine. However, contestants are allowed to: Adjust sensors (Gain, Position etc.), Change

speed settings and Make repairs. However, a contestant may not alter a machine in a manner that

alters its weight (e.g. removal of a bulky sensor array or switching to lighter batteries to get better

speed). The judges shall arbitrate. The points earned by the team till that time will be retained.

21)All restarts for autonomous machine(s) require the approval of the presiding Judges before themachine(s) can be removed from the arena. Any boxes the machine(s) maybe handling will be kept

back at random position on the grid. If the robots were handled within the arena without

approval, the run will be terminated.

22)Team members will not be allowed to handle the blocks. Only officials are allowed to handle theblocks in any situation (e.g. to clear the area, etc.)

23)Participants are not allowed to keep anything inside the arena other than the manual machine andautonomous machines.

24)The contest judges may stop any robot at any time if they feel that it is performing, or is about toperform, any action that is dangerous or hazardous to people or equipment. No robot is allowed

to use any flammable, combustible, explosive or potentially dangerous processes.

Penalties

1) For each restart for the manual machine, a penalty of 15 points is awarded.2) If twoblock carrying machines (as defined in rule 10, these are the 2 autonomous block carrying

machines) are found to be in the 1-block zone at the same time any block they may be carrying

will be removed and placed on any random grid point. A penalty of 15 points is awarded. This will

constitute a restart.

3) For teams with 2 autonomous machines, if the machine A is found carrying Block B in the 1-blockzone, the block will be removed and placed on any random grid point. A penalty of 15 points is

awarded. This will constitute a restart (as per rule 18).

4) For teams with 2 autonomous machines, if the machine B is found carrying Block A in the 1-blockzone, the block will be removed and placed on any random grid point. A penalty of 15 points isawarded. This will constitute a restart (as per rule 18).

5) For teams with 1 autonomous machine, if the block carried by the autonomous machine is foundto enter the 1-block zone out of turn, then the block will be removed and put back to any random

grid point. A penalty of 15 points is awarded. This will constitute a restart (as per rule 18).

6) If at any point of time, the machine does not move from its position or travels out of the grid, theteam can opt for a restart (as per rule 18). A penalty of 15 points is awarded.

7) For violating any of these clauses, a penalty of 10 points will be awarded, and the teams mustrestart (as per rule 18):


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In the central zone, a block can be touched by only 1 autonomous machine at a time, not by 2autonomous machines or another block. If found doing so, the block(s) will be kept back on the

arena at some random location

An autonomous machine can not touch more than one block at a time. If found doing so, theblocks that the erring machine was carrying will be kept back on the central zone at its original

location

The autonomous machines can not touch each other. If found doing so, the block(s) that the erringmachines may be carrying will be kept back at any random grid point. And both the autonomous

machines will be restarted.

Scoring

1) The competition time for each team starts from the moment the judges give the signal to start.2) The run is considered finished when the manual machine, the autonomous machines, and all the 4

blocks return back to the starting zone.

3) A block is successfully deposited if it is entirely inside the manual zone. A successfully depositedblock earns 75 points.The Wall hazard is not a part of the manual zone. Any block in contact with

the wall hazard wont be considered as deposited.

4) The teams score will be equal to:(360-T) + (75*N) P

Where,

T is the total time taken to complete the entire task in seconds or T equals 360 if the team is

unable to complete the entire task.

N is the number of blocks successfully deposited.

P is equal to the penalties awarded.

Judging Criteria

Judging CriterionThe teams score will be equal to:

(360-T) + (75*N)

PWhere,

T is the total time taken to complete the entire task in seconds or T equals 360 if the team is

unable to complete the entire task.

N is the number of blocks successfully deposited.

P is equal to the penalties awarded.

The winners will be decided by the better of these scores for the total run.

In case of a tie, a rerun will be given to the respective teams.


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In case the scores match again, then the team, which will take the lowest time to deposit the first

block in the rerun,will be declared as the winners.

Certificate PolicyFor iNexus participants: to be held at respective iNexus centres

The top 3 teams emerging from this competition will be awarded a Certificate of Excellence.

Teams which deposit at least one block will be awarded a Certificate of Participation.

For general participants (including Open entries & Nexus winners): to be held during Techfest

The top 3 teams emerging from this competition will be awarded a Certificate of Excellence.

Teams which deposit at least one block will be awarded a Certificate of Participation.

Team SpecificationA team may consist of (a maximum of) 6 participants. Students from different educational

institutes can form a team.

EligibilityAll students with a valid identity card of their respective educational institutes are eligible to

participate in Mars Manoeuvre.

Documents

Mars Manoeuvre