Full Details of Grid Follower competition

Full Details of Grid Follower competition

What is Grid Follower?

J Design and construct an autonomous robot which is capable of traversing the maze by principles of line following and completing the given task.

Challenges:-J

Reach a sequence of destined coordinates within the grid by avoiding the nodes and taking the bridges and then returning to the starting position.

General Specification of a Grid Follower:-J

1.      The dimensions of the robot should not exceed 20 cm (length) by 20 cm (height) with a tolerance of 10 percent.

2.      The weight of the robot should not exceed 3 kilograms.

3.      Voltage between any two points on the robot should not exceed 12 Volts with a tolerance of 10 percent.

General Grid Follower Arena:-J

Note:- here we are showing a General Arena Filed, actual will be differ.

1.      The competition platform has been designed with white lines on a black surface.

2.      The arena is in the form of a maze which consists of a 5 x 5 squares grid with white lines representing the path on a black surface. The lines will be equally spaced. Each cell of the grid will be a square with inner dimensions 270 mm x 270 mm. The thickness of each white line is 30 mm.

3.      There are nodes and bridges on the arena.

a. Nodes will be present at the intersection of 2 white lines.The node will be of the size of 30 mm x 30 mm and will be black in colour. Please note that the nodes will NOT be present at all the intersection points.

b. The bridge will be joining the centers of 2 adjacent sides of a square. The bridge will be of thickness 30 mm and will be white in colour.

4.      There will be no nodes on the Check Line.

5.      At the start of each run, the machine must be placed at the start zone within a horizontal square of 240 mm x 240 mm (Starting Point).

6.      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.

7.      Light conditions at the venue might not be uniform. The entire arena will be set up indoors in ambient lighting conditions. No complaints regarding the lighting conditions will be entertained.

8.      NOTE – The orientation of nodes and bridges may not be the same on the day of competition as shown in the figures below. Actual arena will be revealed on the spot.

Rounds in Grid Follower CompetitionJ

First Round:-

Single Coordinate RoundJ

1       Each team will be provided a random coordinate on the arena. The coordinate can be anything in between (0,1) and (5,5), except the nodes, thus making 36 distinct coordinates. Please refer the arena diagram given below for clarity.

2.   No coordinates will be assigned on the Check Line. For details, refer the game play rules mentioned later.

3.   Nodes will NOT be assigned as the target coordinate(s).Nodes should be the coordinates which the robot must avoid.

4.   Now, the robot has to start from the starting point, go to the allotted coordinate, stop there for some time (minimum 5 seconds), and then find a way back to the starting point.

5.   The robot must avoid the nodes and take the bridges in order to traverse the maze.

6.   For example, if a team is allotted a coordinate of (3,5), then their robot should follow the following allotted path:

a. Start at the starting point and reach (0,0).

b. Then go from (0,0) to (3,5) by following any path, avoiding nodes and taking bridges, but the robot should not deviate from the path in any case.

c. Stop at (3,5) for some time, minimum5seconds.

d. Then find a way back to (0,0) by following any path, avoiding nodes and taking bridges, but the robot should not deviate from the path in any case.

e. And finally, reach the starting point from (0,0).

Second RoundJ

Double Co-ordinate round

1.     For this round, two coordinates will be given to each selected team randomly.

2.   The coordinates can be anything in between (0,1) and (5,5), except the nodes, thus making 36 distinct coordinates. Please refer the arena diagram given above for clarity.

3.   No coordinates will be assigned on the Check Line. For details, refer the game play rules mentioned later.

4.   Nodes will NOT be assigned as the target coordinate(s). Nodes should be the coordinates which the robot must avoid.

5.   Now, the robot has to start from the starting point, go to the first coordinate, stop there for some time, then go to the second coordinate, and then find a way back to the starting point.

6.   The same arena will be used for both the rounds.

7.   For example, if a team is allotted the coordinates of (2,3) and (4,1), then their robot should follow the following allotted path:

a. Start at the starting point and reach (0,0).

b. Then go from (0,0) to (2,3) by following any path, avoiding nodes and taking bridges, but the robot should not deviate from the path in any case.

c. Stop at (2,3) for some time, minimum 5 seconds.

d. Then go from (2,3) to (4,1) by following any path, avoiding nodes and taking bridges, but the robot should not deviate from the path in any case.

e. Stop at (4,1) for some time, minimum 5 seconds.

f. Then go from (4,1) to (0,0) by following any path, avoiding nodes and taking bridges, but the robot should not deviate from the path in any case.

g. And finally, reach the starting point from (0,0).

Basic Rules Grid FollowerJ

1.      Coordinates will be allotted 24 hours before the actual game play. This means that the coordinates of the first round will be given to the teams a day before the actual event. After the completion of the first round, the selected teams will be given the coordinates for the second round, which will be held the next day.

2.      For Round-1, one coordinate will be allotted, whereas for Round-2, two coordinates will be allotted.

3.      Each team will be given one/two (depending upon the round) random coordinates (on the arena) a day before the round.The procedure of giving coordinates will be totally random. Complaints from the participants regarding this procedure will NOTbe entertained.

4.      After the teams get their coordinates, if required, they will have to re-design or modify their code as per the allotted path. The details of the allotted path are given above.

5.      The allotted coordinate(s) will NOT be changed under any circumstances. The team has to accept the given coordinate or stand disqualified.

Disqualifications and Penalties 

1.      A robot will be penalised if

a. Any member of the team touches it.

b. Doesn’t detect a node and crosses over it.

c. Leaves the path and goes haywire. However, if the robot catches up with its path or some other part of the grid on its own, it won’t be considered as a penalty.

2.      Any robot not confirming to the specifications provided will be instantly disqualified.

3.      Any robot that damages the arena will be disqualified.

4.      A member of the team will be allowed to touch the robot only thrice and have a maximum of two restarts. After that, the robot will be disqualified.

5.      Any team not present at the allotted time will be disqualified by default.

6.      Any team not ready to accept the allotted coordinate will be disqualified.

7.      For each penalty, 10 seconds will be added to the final time and for each restart, 20 seconds will be added to the final time.

General Judging CriteriaJ

1. The total time (running time + penalties) will be calculated for each team in both the rounds. After Round-1, based on that, Top 16 teams will be selected for Round-2. The lower the total time, the better it is!

2.  Half of the time taken by the bot in the first round will be carried over to the next round.

3. In case of a tie, the two teams will be given another chance to prove their calibre in the same arena, with same/different (it depends) allotted coordinates.