Newsgroups: comp.robotics
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From: rsr@ncc.com (Steve Rainwater)
Subject: Robot Competition List
Message-ID: <1994Nov4.191043.9719@tigger.jvnc.net>
Summary: Listing of known robot competitions
Keywords: ROBOT CONTEST COMPETITION
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Date: Fri, 4 Nov 1994 19:10:43 GMT


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ROBOT CONTESTS AND COMPETITIONS                    Updated: November 4, 1994

Number of events currently listed: 17
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This listing contains brief summaries of known robot competitions around the
world with pointers to additional information when known. Submission of new
contest information, rules, agendas, or additional information of any type is 
appreciated.  All information received will be made available to the public 
on The Interocitor BBS (214-258-1832).  This listing is posted monthly on the
Fidonet AI, and ROBOTIX conferences as well as on the Usenet newsgroup
comp.robotics.

Each listing includes a number of different fields:

NAME........The name of the competition and/or sponsoring organziation.
LAST DATE...Date of the last known occurance of the competition.
NEXT DATE...Date on which the next competition will be held.
LOCATION....Location where next competition is to be held
EVENTS......A listing of the events included in the competition.
CLASSES.....Autonomous, radio-controlled, etc.
SIZE........Notes on size or weight of robots that may enter.
AWARDS......Type or value of awards for winners.
INFO........Who to contact for rules, entry forms, or additional information.
OTHER.......Misc. additional information.

I'm attempting to follow up on the imcomplete entries but have listed what I
know (however little that may be) at this time.  If anyone can fill me in on
one of the partial listings or knows of a competition that I've left out, send
me email!

Updates, new listings, corrections, complaints, and suggestions, should be
sent to:

Internet   srainwater@ncc.com
Fidonet    Steve Rainwater @ 1:124/2206.0
Compuserve 72066.3606@compuserve.com
Fax        214-650-1929
BBS        214-258-1832

Copyright (C) 1994, Steve Rainwater/Network Cybernetics Corp. for permission
to reprint or include in file collections contact NCC at above addresses.

=============================================================================
NAME:       APEC 95 Micromouse Contest
LAST DATE:  February 15, 1994
NEXT DATE:  March 6th, 1995
LOCATION:   Hyatt Regency Hotel, Dallas, Texas, 8:00 PM
EVENTS:     Micromouse Contest - autonomouse robots searching and running
            a 10' x 10' maze in the shortest time
CLASSES:    Open class and student class (both autonomous?)
SIZE:       Mice can be 25cm x 25cm in length and width with no limit on
            heigth or weight
AWARDS:     All entries that finish will get a certificate
                first prize:  $150 and a trophy
                second and third: trophy
                best student entry: $150 and a trophy
                fastest run through the maze: trophy
INFO:       Rules and registration: Pam Wagner
                                    Courtesy Associates
                                    655 Fifteenth Street, NW
                                    Washington D.C. 20005
                                    (202) 639-4990
OTHER:      You can reach the contest organizer via e-mail otten@mit.edu

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NAME:       ASCE Lunar Construction Contest
LAST DATE:  March 1-3, 1994 Albuquerque, NM in conjunction with the SPACE 94
NEXT DATE:  Late March/early April, 1995
LOCATION:   Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX.
EVENTS:     ?
CLASSES:    Autonomous and teleoperation (extra points for autonomy)
SIZE:       ?
AWARDS:     ?
INFO:       Wesley Dane Scott  email: wds2939@tam2000.tamu.edu
            We are waiting for the rule changes to be finalized
            and a video showing the first contest to be finished.
            I hope to find the time to get last years rules and results
            up on a gopher site at Texas A&M in the next week or so.
OTHER:      Open only to University level Students

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NAME:       AUVS International Aerial Robotics Competition
LAST DATE:  May 19, 1994, Georgia Tech
NEXT DATE:  July 6, 1995
LOCATION:   Georgia Tech
EVENTS:     Single event involving autonomous robot flight, navigation,
            and object retrieval.  Event takes place in a 60' x 120' arena
            divided in half by a 3' high opaque wall.  6' diameter rings are
            place 80' apart, one on each side of the wall.  One ring is the
            "pick-up" ring and contains 6 target disks which must be picked
            up and transfered, one at a time, to the "drop-off" ring on the
            other side of the wall.
CLASSES:    Autonomous only (rules require R/C backup for safety reasons)
SIZE:       "Air vehicles may be no larger than a 10-foot (side) cube when
            operational"
AWARDS:     "Up to $10,000 will be awarded to the team having the highest
            score during any fully autonomous round in which a disk is
            successfully moved.  In the event that no air vehicle is capable
            of successfully moving even a single disk during any round, the
            method of prize distribution will be at the discretion of the
            judges"

            The distribution for the 1994 competition.

                Southern College of Technology, 3rd place       $1,000
                University of Texas at Arlington, 2nd place     $2,000
                University of Southern California, 1st place    $4,000

INFO:       auvsarc-request@robotics.usc.edu
            michelsn@prism.gatech.edu
            http://www.usc.edu/dept/robotics/other/auvsarc/auvsarc.html
OTHER:      After 4 years, no one has completed course. FAQs and RULES are
            available via FTP from usc.edu in /pub/nn_robotics/other/auvsarc
            and on The Interocitor BBS.  Unfortunately, the rules are in
            Aldus Pagemaker for Mac format only.  An ASCII version will be
            available soon.

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NAME:       BEAM Robot Games
LAST DATE:  March 4-6, 1994, Toronto, Canada.
NEXT DATE:  May 4-7, 1995.
LOCATION:   Glorieta Conference Center, Santa Fe, New Mexico
EVENTS:     SOLARROLLER:          Self-starting robot dragster race.
            PHOTOVORE:            Robots face a close "world" and each other.
            HIGH JUMP:            Robot creature leaps, lands on feat.
            ROPE CLIMBING:        First up, first down, self-starting.
            LEGGED RACE:          Walking creatures run for the money.
            INNOVATION MACHINES:  Electronic chopsticks, for example.
            ROBOART/MODIFICATION: Mechanical/electronic aesthetics that move.
            ROBOT SUMO:           Push/Bash an opponent out of a ring.
            LIMBO RACE:           How low can you build?
            NANOMOUSE:            A smaller and simpler form of the...
            MICROMOUSE:           Where metal mice race for aluminum cheese.
            AEROBOT:              Build a self-contained, flying dive-bomber.
CLASSES:    Autonomous and Remote-Control.
SIZE:       Must be smaller than a "standard upright refrigerator".
AWARDS:     Sponsor supplied material and cash awards in all catagories.
INFO:       beam_robot@lanl.gov, mwtilden@lanl.gov, pargo@lanl.gov.
OTHER:      Guidebook, kits, videos soon available from LANL education office.
            Rules will also be made available from an upcoming WWW site.
            Rules for '93 event are available on The Interocitor BBS.

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NAME:       Competition of Intelligent Autonomous Vehicles (IAV-95)
LAST DATE:  none
NEXT DATE:  12 - 14 June, 1995
LOCATION:   Helsinki University of Technology, Espoo, Finland
EVENTS:     15-30 min. demonstration. Jury judges the demonstrations
            on the grounds of how well the vehicle performs
            following criteria: intelligence
                                autonomousness
                                reliability
                                navigation
                                useability
                                safety
CLASSES:    Autonomous
SIZE:       There is no size limit, but the competition is for
            outdoor vehicles so very small robots might have
            problems in moving on the test field where the
            competition will be held.
AWARDS:     1st 40 000 FIM
INFO:       Mr. Jussi Suomela
            Otakaari 5A
            02150 Espoo
            Finland
            Tel: +358 0 451 3312
            Fax: +358 0 451 3308
            Email: iavcomp@hut.fi
            Preliminary rules are available on The Interocitor BBS.
OTHER:      The competition is held with 2nd IFAC Conference on
            Intelligent Autonomous Vehicles

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NAME:       Critter Crunch (Sponsored by the Mad Scientists Club)
LAST DATE:  October 21-23, 1994
NEXT DATE:  October, 1995
LOCATION:   Denver, CO, held in conjunction with MileHiCon SF convention
EVENTS:     Robot combat - 2lbs and 20lbs event catagories
CLASSES:    Autonomous and Remote-Control
SIZE:       Starting size of 12"x12"x12". Expansion during event okay.
            Weight limit of 20lbs.  Power source must meet OSHA requirements
            for indoor use.
AWARDS:     Handmade art objects created by local artist. Awards for 1st, 2nd
            3rd place as well as "amusing and arbitrary accomplishments".
INFO:       The Denver Mad Scientists Club (Denver, CO)
            Bill Lemieux
            Internet: blemieux@10nyx.cs.du.edu
            Fidonet:  1:104/43  (MonkeyBoy BBS)
            US Snail: 1010 Clarkson St. #101, Denver, CO 80218
            Rules and description available on The Interocitor BBS.
OTHER:      Note that your vehicle may, during the course of competition, be
            severely damaged, or even destroyed.  Past competitions have seen
            vehicles equipped with pneumatic cylinders, spear-throwing CO2
            cannons, and flame throwers.  Please consider this when packaging
            your power source if it involves such potential hazards as acid 
            (batteries), flammable liquids (engines), or plutonium (reactors).
            Developing an emotional attachment to your vehicle is not
            recommended.

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NAME:       Hong-Kong Robot ping pong competition
LAST DATE:  ?
NEXT DATE:  ?
LOCATION    Hong Kong
EVENTS:     Robot ping pong
CLASSES:    ?
SIZE:       ?
AWARDS:     ?
INFO:       EERTBRAD@hk.cphk.cphkvx (Robin Bradbeer)

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NAME:       IJCAI Robot Competion
            (formerly the AAAI Robot Competition)
LAST DATE:  July 31 - August 2, 1994, Washington State Conv. Center
NEXT DATE:  August 20-25, 1995
LOCATION:   Montreal, Canada
EVENTS:     OFFICE DELIVERY: Using minimal map information, navigate in
            offices, around furniture and through corridors to reach a
            specified goal destination.  Go for speed, but watch out for
            blocked passageways and closed doors.
            CLEAN UP THE OFFICE: Search the rooms and corridors for rubbish
            (cans, cups, paper wads) and deposit them in a trashbin. Multiple
            robots may team up in this event.
            INTELLIGENT WHEELCHAIR COMPETITION: ?
CLASSES:    Autonomous only.
SIZE:       Must be able to maneuver in 2-meter wide corridors.
AWARDS:     Certificate for all participants.  Winners will receive copies of
            the AI CD-ROM and subscriptions to technical journals.
INFO:       dmiller@azrael.mitre.org (David Miller)
            raja@laas.fr  (Raja Chatila)
            Rules, information, and reports on previous AAAI competitions can
            be found on The Interocitor BBS

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NAME:       RBL-94 (AAAI 1994 Robot Building Laboratory)
LAST DATE:  July 31 to August 4, 1994
NEXT DATE:  During IJCAI 1995 (tentative, being planned)
LOCATION:   Montreal (IJCAI-95)
EVENTS:     ?
CLASSES:    Autonomous
SIZE:       Dimensions not to exceed 1 cubic foot.
AWARDS:     ?
INFO:       ncai@aaai.org, rbl-95@ai.mit.edu

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NAME:       Robofest Robot Sumo Competition
LAST DATE:  1994
NEXT DATE:  1995
LOCATION:   Austin, Texas
EVENTS:     Robot Sumo Wrestling
CLASSES:    Autonomous and Remote-Control
SIZE:       Base 20cm x 20cm at start of event, Height unlimited, Weight 
            3000 grams.  Expansion during event okay.
AWARDS:     ?
INFO:       Austin Robotics Society
            Rules for last years event are available on The Interocitor BBS.

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NAME:       Robotics Society of Southern California Annual Competition and
            Robot Faire
LAST DATE:  October 2, 1994
NEXT DATE:  ?
LOCATION:   ?
EVENTS:     Robot SUMU
            Micro-mouse competition
            "Get me a beer" - a navigation and retrieval contest
CLASSES:    ?
SIZE:       ?
AWARDS:     ?
INFO:       jbpir2@aol.com (JB PIR2)

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NAME:       SAE National Robotics Walking Machine Decathelon (9th annual)
LAST DATE   April 29 - May 1, 1994
NEXT DATE   April 7-8, 1995
LOCATION    Colorado State University, Ft. Collins, Colorado
EVENTS      1.  DASH - speed event.
            2.  TURNING - walk around a pylon placed in the center of the
                course.
            3.  CREVASSE - walk over a simulated crevasse.
            4.  GRAND TOUR - walk around the perimeter of the course.
            5.  HILL CLIMB - walk over a hill with an incline of 20 degrees.
            6.  OBJECT RETRIEVAL - locate and pickup a 1/4 kg pebble and
                return it to the starting line.
            7.  OBJECT AVOIDANCE - walk to the finish line while avoiding
                obstacles placed on the course.
            8.  OBJECT SEEKING - locate and touch an arbitrarily placed pylon.
            9.  BOULDER FIELD - walk across a boulder field to the finish
                line.
            10. OBJECT SEEKING IN BOULDER FIELD - locate and touch a pylon
                which has been placed in the boulder field.
CLASSES     Autonomous, tethered or remote controled.
SIZE        Approximately 1 meter x 1 meter x 3 meters maximum
AWARDS      $5000 cash to be distributed among the top teams
INFO        email:  chriso@lance.colostate.edu
            WWW:  http://www.lance.colostate.edu/~chriso/walking.html
            ftp:  bill.lance.colostate.edu:/pub/walking
OTHER       Competition only open to teams of undergraduate students

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NAME:       San Francisco Robotics Society Robot Sumo Competition
LAST DATE:  September 18, 1994, The Exploritorium in San Francisco, CA
NEXT DATE:  ?
LOCATION:   ?
EVENTS:     Robot Sumo using Fuji Software of Japan rules.
CLASSES:    Autonomous and Remote-Control
SIZE:       Base 20cm x 20cm at start of event, Height unlimited, Weight
            3000 grams. Expansion during event okay.
AWARDS:     1st and 2nd place trophies in RC and Auto classes.
INFO:       rowley@netcom.com
OTHER:      Rules and FAQ available via ftp at ftp.netcom.com in pub/rowley
            and on The Interocitor BBS.

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NAME:       SPIE International Unmanned Ground Vehicle Robotics Competition
LAST DATE:  May 20-22, 1994
NEXT DATE:  ?
LOCATION:   ?
EVENTS:     All Terrain Vehicle (ATV)
            Outdoor Natural Terrain Course
CLASSES:    Autonomous only
SIZE:       No limit?
AWARDS:     $10,000 to University team with best vehicle
INFO:       lescoep%ccmail@tacom-enmhl.army.mil

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NAME:       Trinity College Robot Contest
            (formerly the Science Center of CT Robot Contest)
LAST DATE:  April 17th, 1994, Science Center of Connecticut
NEXT DATE:  April 23, 1995
LOCATION:   Trinity College in Hartford, CT
EVENTS:     Each robot will navigate an 8' by 8' "house" of known floor plan
            to find and extinguish a candle.
CLASSES:    Autonomous only
SIZE:       Maximum of 1 cubic foot
AWARDS:     $1000 award for best entry
            $1000 award for best high school level and below entry
INFO:       jake.mendelssohn@circellar.com (Jake Mendelssohn)
            tel 203.231.2824 / fax 203.232.0705
OTHER:      Contest rules may be had for $3 by writing to:
            TSI
            190 Mohegan Drive
            West Hartford, CT 06117.

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NAME:       UC Davis Picnic Day MicroMouse contest
LAST DATE:  Saturday, April 16, 1994
NEXT DATE:  Saturday, April 22, 1995
LOCATION:   University of California, Davis campus (room TBA)
EVENTS:     DUMB MOUSE:       Micromouse faces an unknown path from
                              start to finish of maze.  Dumb mouse will
                              solve the maze simply by following either the
                              left or the right wall (wall hugging).
                              These are still autonomous robots, but require
                              only simple software algorithms.
            SMART MOUSE:      Micromouse faces a much more difficult maze,
                              one that cannot be solved by wall hugging.
                              Mouse must map maze and determine shortest
                              path, using advanced algorithms.
CLASSES:    Smart and dumb (both autonomous).
SIZE:       Maximum base of 25 cm. by 25 cm.  No height restriction (must
            fit through door of building!).
AWARDS:     Non-cash for both categories.  Trophy will likely be awarded
            to winner of smart mouse contest.
INFO:       ieee_mm@engr.ucdavis.edu (Jeff Collins)
OTHER:      Micromouse Web page (still under construction) available at
            http://www.ece.ucdavis.edu under "miscellaneous links."
            Contest will mostly follow official rules of the IEEE Central
            Area Region 6.  Old rules available from ftp.ece.ucdavis.edu in
            /pub/umouse/admin/rules.txt.  Updated ones online soon.

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NAME:       Western Canadian Robot Games
LAST DATE:  April 9, 1994, Southern Alberta Institute Of Technology
NEXT DATE:  April 8, 1995 (saturday)
LOCATION:   Southern Alberta Institute Of Technology
            1301 16TH Ave NW Calgary
            T2M-0L4
            Campus Center Building
EVENTS:     Robot Sumo Wrestling
            Atomic Hockey (robots in ring area attempt to gather and deposit
                ping-pong balls [protons] in their goal [nucleus] while
                avoiding ball bearings [electrons] or placing them in the
                opponents goal.)
            Solar Roller
            The Extinguisher
            Robot Exhibition And Demostrations
CLASSES:    Autonomous and Remote-Control
SIZE:       9"x9" square at start, expansion during event okay.
            no limit on height. 5kg max weight in Sumo event.
AWARDS:     Medalions and prizes for winners.  Names engraved on trophies.
            (last years prizes exceeded $2,000 in value.)
INFO:       maynard@trantor.el.sait.ab.ca (Craig Maynard)
OTHER:      We are working toward hosting Mark Tildens BEAM robot olympics
            this year and generally have an impressive line-up of robot
            demonstrations in addition to the competitions.

=============================================================================

 ---------------------------------------  -----------------------------------
| Internet   srainwater@ncc.com         || Network Cybernetics Corporation   |
| Fidonet    Steve Rainwater@1:124/2206 || Tel 214-650-2002 BBS 214-258-1832 |
| Compuserve 72066,3606                 || Fax 214-650-1929                  |
 ---------------------------------------  -----------------------------------

