Formula 1 for drones: ITMO University team ranked first at Robotex-2017
The team of first-year students of ITMO University won the first place in the DJI Drone Race competition, which recently took place in the framework of robotic competitions Robotex-2017. The fact that this is a festival and how are the "race drones" will tell below.
Photo of Steffen VoĂź BY CC
Recently, Robotex-2017, which is organized by Estonian universities, is the largest European festival dedicated to robotics. During the festival, 23 competitions are held in categories such as, for example, “basketball robots”, passing mazes, “sumo”, races on water and in the air - in the last competition the team of ITMO University became the winner.
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A total of 1,600 robots from 3,700 participants were presented at the event - and about 15,000 people came to watch the competitions. Within the framework of the festival, a thematic conference was also held for those who wanted (issues of ethics and technology, artificial intelligence, developments for space), workshops and exhibitions of robots were discussed.
By the way, this year not only developers and robotics took part in the festival, but also entrepreneurs - not sports but commercial projects related to robotics competed in this area. The winner was a team of girls from Afghanistan, who presented a project that uses solar energy to help small farms.
Despite the fact that from the ITMO University first-year students took part in the DJI Drone Race, they all have considerable experience in designing robots and participating in IT competitions. The team included Valery Chernov, Artem Egorov, Alexander Semenov (Department of Management Systems and Computer Science at ITMO University) and Yegor Zhdan (Department of Computer Technologies). All the guys are winners of competitions and winners of competitions, including those related to robotics. For example, Valery Chernov participated in the RobotChallenge, Artem Egorov and Alexander Semenov - in the World Robot Olympiad (WRO).
By the way, to take part in this contest in this category (the race of drones) is the idea of ​​the students themselves. They study on an individual program - as part of this program, ITMO University is testing a new educational format that takes into account the latest educational trends, as well as the wishes and requests of the students themselves. Much attention during the training is given to project activities - an example of such work was the DJI Drone Race Robotex 2017 competition. The guys started preparing for it immediately after enrolling in high school.
In the project team, responsibilities were distributed by roles: mathematician, programmer, designer, developer of low-level code. As part of the training, several drones were used at once - as the participants say , one of them failed, moreover, the team had to correct manufacturing defects and refine the competitive “racer”.
In addition, the team developed special software (it allowed the drone to move along a given trajectory, to keep its position in space) and equipped it with a vision system.
At first glance, the “race of drones” looks quite simple: the robot needs to fly as quickly as possible along a predetermined trajectory. However, there are many nuances.
Firstly, the trajectory itself is not so simple - it is an “inverted eight”. Secondly, all drones should be equipped approximately the same - to fly at a speed of no more than 10 m / s, to meet the requirements for size and weight and (most importantly) to be autonomous (the team, however, should be able to transfer the robot at any time manual control for safety reasons).
Each team is given 5 minutes to prepare and 10 minutes to “fly”. During this time, the drone can make an unlimited number of attempts to pass the route - each attempt is evaluated in points, and the one in which the drone has scored the maximum number of points is “scored”.
In the event that two or more teams score the same amount of points, the one that managed to go the route faster wins. For example, the “best circle” drone of the ITMO University team passed in 37 seconds - while the closest rivals from Tallinn University, within the framework of their best attempt, covered the distance in 51 seconds.
Autonomous drone racing is not only a student competition, but also a field for serious development. For example, not so long ago it was reported that NASA conducted an experiment in which an autonomous drone under the control of an artificial intelligence system competed with a drone piloted by a driver from the DRL League .
The autonomous drone coped faster - including at the expense of more accurate passage of the route, and also due to the fact that, unlike the “live” pilot, he did not experience fatigue and mental strain. This "joke" race is actually the result of two years of work in the framework of the autonomous drones project funded by Google.
Such projects and races are fueling interest in development related to drones and UAVs. It is therefore not surprising that the competition between autonomous drones was included in the Robotex program.
As for the ITMO University team, the winners of Robotex-2017 are planning to develop their project and will continue to participate in competitions with the participation of drones in the new year.
Photo of Steffen VoĂź BY CCAbout the festival
Recently, Robotex-2017, which is organized by Estonian universities, is the largest European festival dedicated to robotics. During the festival, 23 competitions are held in categories such as, for example, “basketball robots”, passing mazes, “sumo”, races on water and in the air - in the last competition the team of ITMO University became the winner.
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A total of 1,600 robots from 3,700 participants were presented at the event - and about 15,000 people came to watch the competitions. Within the framework of the festival, a thematic conference was also held for those who wanted (issues of ethics and technology, artificial intelligence, developments for space), workshops and exhibitions of robots were discussed.
By the way, this year not only developers and robotics took part in the festival, but also entrepreneurs - not sports but commercial projects related to robotics competed in this area. The winner was a team of girls from Afghanistan, who presented a project that uses solar energy to help small farms.
ITMO University Team
Despite the fact that from the ITMO University first-year students took part in the DJI Drone Race, they all have considerable experience in designing robots and participating in IT competitions. The team included Valery Chernov, Artem Egorov, Alexander Semenov (Department of Management Systems and Computer Science at ITMO University) and Yegor Zhdan (Department of Computer Technologies). All the guys are winners of competitions and winners of competitions, including those related to robotics. For example, Valery Chernov participated in the RobotChallenge, Artem Egorov and Alexander Semenov - in the World Robot Olympiad (WRO).
By the way, to take part in this contest in this category (the race of drones) is the idea of ​​the students themselves. They study on an individual program - as part of this program, ITMO University is testing a new educational format that takes into account the latest educational trends, as well as the wishes and requests of the students themselves. Much attention during the training is given to project activities - an example of such work was the DJI Drone Race Robotex 2017 competition. The guys started preparing for it immediately after enrolling in high school.
Preparing for the race
In the project team, responsibilities were distributed by roles: mathematician, programmer, designer, developer of low-level code. As part of the training, several drones were used at once - as the participants say , one of them failed, moreover, the team had to correct manufacturing defects and refine the competitive “racer”.
In addition, the team developed special software (it allowed the drone to move along a given trajectory, to keep its position in space) and equipped it with a vision system.
Features of the competition
At first glance, the “race of drones” looks quite simple: the robot needs to fly as quickly as possible along a predetermined trajectory. However, there are many nuances.
Firstly, the trajectory itself is not so simple - it is an “inverted eight”. Secondly, all drones should be equipped approximately the same - to fly at a speed of no more than 10 m / s, to meet the requirements for size and weight and (most importantly) to be autonomous (the team, however, should be able to transfer the robot at any time manual control for safety reasons).
Each team is given 5 minutes to prepare and 10 minutes to “fly”. During this time, the drone can make an unlimited number of attempts to pass the route - each attempt is evaluated in points, and the one in which the drone has scored the maximum number of points is “scored”.
In the event that two or more teams score the same amount of points, the one that managed to go the route faster wins. For example, the “best circle” drone of the ITMO University team passed in 37 seconds - while the closest rivals from Tallinn University, within the framework of their best attempt, covered the distance in 51 seconds.
By the way
Autonomous drone racing is not only a student competition, but also a field for serious development. For example, not so long ago it was reported that NASA conducted an experiment in which an autonomous drone under the control of an artificial intelligence system competed with a drone piloted by a driver from the DRL League .
The autonomous drone coped faster - including at the expense of more accurate passage of the route, and also due to the fact that, unlike the “live” pilot, he did not experience fatigue and mental strain. This "joke" race is actually the result of two years of work in the framework of the autonomous drones project funded by Google.
Such projects and races are fueling interest in development related to drones and UAVs. It is therefore not surprising that the competition between autonomous drones was included in the Robotex program.
As for the ITMO University team, the winners of Robotex-2017 are planning to develop their project and will continue to participate in competitions with the participation of drones in the new year.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/344386/
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