Message-ID: <334DF569.61C@di.epfl.ch>
Date: Fri, 11 Apr 1997 10:25:13 +0200
From: Olivier Michel <Olivier.Michel@di.epfl.ch>
Organization: LAMI - EPFL
X-Mailer: Mozilla 3.01 (X11; I; SunOS 5.5.1 sun4m)
MIME-Version: 1.0
Newsgroups: comp.ai.alife,comp.ai.neural-nets,comp.ai.genetic,comp.ai.fuzzy
Subject: Reminder: Khepera Contest
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Lines: 125
NNTP-Posting-Host: disunms-sidi.epfl.ch
Path: cantaloupe.srv.cs.cmu.edu!nntp.club.cc.cmu.edu!goldenapple.srv.cs.cmu.edu!rochester!cornellcs!newsstand.cit.cornell.edu!portc01.blue.aol.com!newsfeed.direct.ca!news.maxwell.syr.edu!news.apfel.de!news-fra1.dfn.de!news-ge.switch.ch!swidir.switch.ch!epflnews.epfl.ch!lamisun8.epfl.ch
Xref: glinda.oz.cs.cmu.edu comp.ai.alife:7840 comp.ai.neural-nets:37253 comp.ai.genetic:11568 comp.ai.fuzzy:9545

Here is a call for contest of interest for the researcher in
neural-nets, fuzzy logic, evolutionary algorithms and mobile robotics.
The deadline for registration is June, 15, 1997!

--
Olivier Michel

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                             Olivier Michel 
     ____/  __  /  ____/  /  Microprocessor and Interface Lab (LAMI)
    /      /   /  /      /   Swiss Federal Institute of Technology
   ____/  ____/  ____/  /    CH-1015 Ecublens, Lausanne (EPFL)
  /      /      /      /     Tel/Fax: ++41 21 693 5264 / 5263
_____/ _/     _/     _____/  E-mail: Olivier.Michel@di.epfl.ch
                             http://diwww.epfl.ch/lami/team/michel/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

--8<--------------------------------------------------------------------

   ---------------------------------------------------------------------
   #                          Khepera Contest                          #
   ---------------------------------------------------------------------
       Conference Evolution Artificielle, Nimes, 23-27 Octobre 1997

         Write your own adaptive robot controller on the simulator,
                         and win a Khepera robot

INTRODUCTION

This contest intends to confront various controller systems driving the
mobile
robot Khepera and exhibiting adaptive behavior. A Khepera simulator
sofware is
provided to the competitors. The live confrontation will occur on both
real
robot and simulator during Evolution Artificielle conference in Nimes,
1997.
The first prize will be a Khepera robot (or an extension module for
Khepera,
if the winner already owns a Khepera).

CONTEST GOAL 

To build up the most interesting robot controller that exhibit adaptive
behavior, using learning or evolutionary methods (or both).

CONSTRAINTS

All possible forms of controller are accepted including:
   Artificial neural networks.
   Classifiers systems.
   Subsumption architectures.
   Fuzzy logic systems.
   Blackboard based systems.
   Anything else you can imagine.

Evolutionary and learning methods are:
   Genetic algorithms.
   Evolutionary Programming.
   Reinforcement learning.
   Bucked brigad algorithm.
   Any other evolutionary or learning technique you just designed.


EVALUATION

During Evolution Artificielle conference, the controllers will be run on
the
simulator and on the real robot. The competitors should explain the
techniques
they used (posters are welcome). The jury will consider several aspects
of the
system including:

   Originality.
   Overall Efficiency.
   Relevance to the evolutionary methods.
   Relevance to the learning methods.

CATEGORIES

We will make a distinction between Khepera owners and other competitors,
who
have only the simulator to develop their system. Consequently, the jury
will
be a bit more indulgent with the latter.

PRIZES

   First prize:  Choice between a Khepera robot or an extension module
for
                 Khepera robot. 
   Second prize: A Khepera bag containing Valentino Braitenberg's book:
                 Vehicles. 
   Third prize:  An official Khepera T-shirt.

IMPORTANT DATES

   June, 15 1997:       Contest registration deadline.
   October, 23-27 1997: Live Contest at Evolution Artificielle
Conference
                        in Nimes, jury deliberation and prizegiving.

   Don't wait too much, register and start now !
   Student research projects and professional researcher works are
welcome.

REGISTRATION and SOFTWARE DOWNLOADING

Registration and Software downloading are available on the World Wide
Web at:
http://wwwi3s.unice.fr/~om/khep-contest.html

KHEPERA INFORMATION

Khepera is a mini mobile robot developped at EPFL by Edo Franzi, Andre
Guignard
and Francesco Mondada (K-Team). More information is available at:
http://lamiwww.epfl.ch/Khepera/

ORGANIZATION COMMITEE

o Olivier Michel, LAMI, EPFL, CH
o Francesco Mondada, K-Team SA, Preverenges, CH
o Marc Schoenauer, Ecole Polytechnique Paris, F
