Eurobot: young robotics competition
I am somewhat surprised that at Habrahabr so far no one has told anything about the Eurobot youth robotic competitions. I have been an active participant for more than a year now and would like to share some interesting points related to these competitions, and also to tell you what the main difference from most other tournaments is.
Eurobot competitions appeared in France in 1994 and at that time represented a tournament between teams from French universities. The rules changed every year, each time the teams had to create a new robot to perform a new task. By today's standards, the tasks before the robots were set fairly simple, but at the same time the teams' approach to performing these tasks was often quite aggressive (for those who want to study the history of the competitions in more detail, I recommend watching a series of videos about tournaments of the 1994-1998 period: video 1 , video 2 ).
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In 1998, the first international Eurobot tournament was held (after a request from partners from Switzerland). Since then, international competitions have been held annually. Interest in the event increased every year, and in 2004 the international association Eurobot was created.
To date, national organizational committees (NOCs) of Eurobot exist in many European countries, including Russia (more detailed information about the work of our committee is posted on the new website eurobot-russia.org ).
For spectators competition, most often, open.
One of the most important features of Eurobot competitions, which qualitatively distinguishes them from others, is the fact that the rules of the game change every year. Thus, almost all teams have a chance to win in more or less equal measure, since it is very difficult (even practically unrealistic) to create an ideal robot capable of performing the task of each new season equally effectively. Each year, changing requirements for robots, chassis, manipulators. Thus, even for the first time a team that appeared at competitions, with certain efforts, it can successfully perform and take a podium place (for example, in 2013 a new team from MGUPI took 2nd place at the Russian stage of competitions in the league of autonomous robots, bypassing several teams recognized by Eurobot veterans).
There are two Eurobot leagues: Eurobot Junior, in which the age limit for participants is 18 years, and Eurobot Professional, the Eurobot Professional league, in which you can participate up to 30 years. The tasks for both leagues of the last few years are the same, but the competitions themselves are held separately in each league.
Members of the Junior League to create a game task must create a robot controlled via a wired channel (for a slight complication of the game). Sometimes the rules allow the team to also use an optional standalone module if they wish. Accordingly, the main target audience is middle and high school. (On the basis of some Moscow schools, laboratories are organized in which such teams work).
The participants of a professional league face a somewhat more complicated, but also an interesting task - the robot (or robots) must be completely autonomous. Basically, teams from technical institutes or universities take part in professional league competitions, although there are exceptions.
The teams that have won prizes at the local stage of the competition are sent to the international stage, the venue of which is determined annually by the international Eurobot committee. In 2011, they were held in Astrakhan, in the upcoming season of 2014 the tournament will be held in Dresden. The traditional "capital" - the main center of the competition - is the town of Ferte-Bernard (La Ferte-Bernard) in France.
At all stages of the competition, teams usually seek to exchange experience with their colleagues, and since the interest of young engineers to Eurobot is growing steadily and the community of developers of robots is increasing, the Eurobot tournament also becomes an excellent applied educational platform.
Competitions are usually held at the end of spring. From the moment of publication of the competition rules to the tournament itself, a little more than six months passes, for which teams must prepare their robots to participate as much as possible.
According to the already established tradition, the game action takes place on a table measuring 3x2 meters. Duration of arrival - 90 seconds. On the gaming table at the same time there are robots of two teams. The task of each team is to complete the tasks, to score as many points as possible, while trying not to collect penalties (which can be obtained, for example, at table with a robot of an opposing team). Each team has its own color (traditionally red and blue); Most often, teams need to perform actions with elements of their own color. For performing them with objects of a different color, points are awarded to the opposing team.
In the first part of the tournament qualifying races are held. The result of each race is recorded in the standings (records are collected scored points). At the end of the qualification, the teams that will take part in the final are determined.
The rules for the finals at the Russian and international stages are somewhat different. Thus, at the international game, the knockout is played: at the beginning of the final, 16 teams play (8 pairs) one race each, the remaining 8 teams play 1/8 finals, then 4, 2, and the winner is determined by the results of the three final races of the remaining two teams. At the Russian stage, the rules are more humane, the game is not going to take off, which leaves teams with a chance to make up for lost positions.
The tasks themselves are defined in a new way every year. At the end of September and beginning of October, the Eurobot websites publish regulations that state the essence of each task, the value of their fulfillment, as well as the requirements for robots (the perimeter is folded and unfolded, the number of team robots, and so on). In connection with the publication, teams often gather at the NOC where participants can ask questions, look at the elements of the playing field, and also share their ideas with each other. Then begins the intensive work of teams for modeling, creating and debugging robots. This process often continues even during the competitions themselves. Teams need not only to create a simple, fast and efficient chassis, but also to develop tactics of the robot's behavior on the field (and some teams of the professional league are developing artificial intelligence for dynamic planning tactics).
The theme of the game last season was called "Happy Birthday!". The robots were supposed to “deliver the drinks” (collect the glasses placed on the table and build the highest tower or several towers of them at their starting area), “open presents” (knock over boards of their color from the playing field installed on the front side of the field) candles ”on the cake (the candles were cups with a rubber band stretched on top, on which a tennis ball was installed, which had to be pushed inside the glass; only candles of one's color had to be extinguished),“ throw cherries on the cake ”(cherries - balls for ping-pong, which had to be thrown into the basket of their color on the cake. There were also “rotten” (painted) cherries, getting into the basket divided the glasses obtained from ripe cherries into two). After the expiration of 90 seconds of playing time, robots could inflate a ball in 10 seconds, for which they could receive additional bonus points (funny action - funny action).
An example of the game according to the rules of 2013:
(The robots of our team did not throw cherries, but everything else was done as much as possible and power).
I take part in competitions in the team DIMRobotics . Our team maintains a small blog in which we periodically publish news about ourselves, ways to solve some questions on regulations, as well as useful articles in one way or another connected with our craft. All videos accompanying blog entries, as well as selected videos about our activities, are published on our YouTube channel.
Information about the competitions is published on the site of the Eurobot NOC of Russia , as well as on the website of the international committee .
I will be glad to answer your questions.
A bit of history
Eurobot competitions appeared in France in 1994 and at that time represented a tournament between teams from French universities. The rules changed every year, each time the teams had to create a new robot to perform a new task. By today's standards, the tasks before the robots were set fairly simple, but at the same time the teams' approach to performing these tasks was often quite aggressive (for those who want to study the history of the competitions in more detail, I recommend watching a series of videos about tournaments of the 1994-1998 period: video 1 , video 2 ).
')
In 1998, the first international Eurobot tournament was held (after a request from partners from Switzerland). Since then, international competitions have been held annually. Interest in the event increased every year, and in 2004 the international association Eurobot was created.
To date, national organizational committees (NOCs) of Eurobot exist in many European countries, including Russia (more detailed information about the work of our committee is posted on the new website eurobot-russia.org ).
For spectators competition, most often, open.
Ideology
One of the most important features of Eurobot competitions, which qualitatively distinguishes them from others, is the fact that the rules of the game change every year. Thus, almost all teams have a chance to win in more or less equal measure, since it is very difficult (even practically unrealistic) to create an ideal robot capable of performing the task of each new season equally effectively. Each year, changing requirements for robots, chassis, manipulators. Thus, even for the first time a team that appeared at competitions, with certain efforts, it can successfully perform and take a podium place (for example, in 2013 a new team from MGUPI took 2nd place at the Russian stage of competitions in the league of autonomous robots, bypassing several teams recognized by Eurobot veterans).
There are two Eurobot leagues: Eurobot Junior, in which the age limit for participants is 18 years, and Eurobot Professional, the Eurobot Professional league, in which you can participate up to 30 years. The tasks for both leagues of the last few years are the same, but the competitions themselves are held separately in each league.
Members of the Junior League to create a game task must create a robot controlled via a wired channel (for a slight complication of the game). Sometimes the rules allow the team to also use an optional standalone module if they wish. Accordingly, the main target audience is middle and high school. (On the basis of some Moscow schools, laboratories are organized in which such teams work).
The participants of a professional league face a somewhat more complicated, but also an interesting task - the robot (or robots) must be completely autonomous. Basically, teams from technical institutes or universities take part in professional league competitions, although there are exceptions.
The teams that have won prizes at the local stage of the competition are sent to the international stage, the venue of which is determined annually by the international Eurobot committee. In 2011, they were held in Astrakhan, in the upcoming season of 2014 the tournament will be held in Dresden. The traditional "capital" - the main center of the competition - is the town of Ferte-Bernard (La Ferte-Bernard) in France.
At all stages of the competition, teams usually seek to exchange experience with their colleagues, and since the interest of young engineers to Eurobot is growing steadily and the community of developers of robots is increasing, the Eurobot tournament also becomes an excellent applied educational platform.
Competitions are usually held at the end of spring. From the moment of publication of the competition rules to the tournament itself, a little more than six months passes, for which teams must prepare their robots to participate as much as possible.
Rules of the game
According to the already established tradition, the game action takes place on a table measuring 3x2 meters. Duration of arrival - 90 seconds. On the gaming table at the same time there are robots of two teams. The task of each team is to complete the tasks, to score as many points as possible, while trying not to collect penalties (which can be obtained, for example, at table with a robot of an opposing team). Each team has its own color (traditionally red and blue); Most often, teams need to perform actions with elements of their own color. For performing them with objects of a different color, points are awarded to the opposing team.
In the first part of the tournament qualifying races are held. The result of each race is recorded in the standings (records are collected scored points). At the end of the qualification, the teams that will take part in the final are determined.
The rules for the finals at the Russian and international stages are somewhat different. Thus, at the international game, the knockout is played: at the beginning of the final, 16 teams play (8 pairs) one race each, the remaining 8 teams play 1/8 finals, then 4, 2, and the winner is determined by the results of the three final races of the remaining two teams. At the Russian stage, the rules are more humane, the game is not going to take off, which leaves teams with a chance to make up for lost positions.
The tasks themselves are defined in a new way every year. At the end of September and beginning of October, the Eurobot websites publish regulations that state the essence of each task, the value of their fulfillment, as well as the requirements for robots (the perimeter is folded and unfolded, the number of team robots, and so on). In connection with the publication, teams often gather at the NOC where participants can ask questions, look at the elements of the playing field, and also share their ideas with each other. Then begins the intensive work of teams for modeling, creating and debugging robots. This process often continues even during the competitions themselves. Teams need not only to create a simple, fast and efficient chassis, but also to develop tactics of the robot's behavior on the field (and some teams of the professional league are developing artificial intelligence for dynamic planning tactics).
Regulations 2013
The theme of the game last season was called "Happy Birthday!". The robots were supposed to “deliver the drinks” (collect the glasses placed on the table and build the highest tower or several towers of them at their starting area), “open presents” (knock over boards of their color from the playing field installed on the front side of the field) candles ”on the cake (the candles were cups with a rubber band stretched on top, on which a tennis ball was installed, which had to be pushed inside the glass; only candles of one's color had to be extinguished),“ throw cherries on the cake ”(cherries - balls for ping-pong, which had to be thrown into the basket of their color on the cake. There were also “rotten” (painted) cherries, getting into the basket divided the glasses obtained from ripe cherries into two). After the expiration of 90 seconds of playing time, robots could inflate a ball in 10 seconds, for which they could receive additional bonus points (funny action - funny action).
An example of the game according to the rules of 2013:
(The robots of our team did not throw cherries, but everything else was done as much as possible and power).
About myself
I take part in competitions in the team DIMRobotics . Our team maintains a small blog in which we periodically publish news about ourselves, ways to solve some questions on regulations, as well as useful articles in one way or another connected with our craft. All videos accompanying blog entries, as well as selected videos about our activities, are published on our YouTube channel.
Information about the competitions is published on the site of the Eurobot NOC of Russia , as well as on the website of the international committee .
I will be glad to answer your questions.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/200926/
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