Author Topic: MOBOT 2008 announcement (Read 4420 times)

Admin · « **on:** April 06, 2008, 11:47:32 AM »

Its in Pittsburgh, PA, at CMU. I'll be competing with my ERP. Come say hi if you come, but if I look stressed, it means my robot isn't working so don't chat too much

Quote

*14TH ANNUAL MOBOT RACES: (MObile roBOT Races)*
Friday, 18 April 2008
12:00 noon - Race Course in Front of Wean Hall
Registration is open!
--Followed by the 15th Gate Award Ceremony and Team Presentations, 3:30
pm, Wean 7500

The Mobot Races are scheduled for Friday, 18 April 2008, during
Carnival Weekend...so there is still time to build and/or perfect your
Mobot/s (mobile robots) for this year's competition! Remember, teams
(even cross-disciplinary) are greatly welcomed! It's good fun! If you
can't
do it alone, grab some partners. You'll learn in the trying. Open to
faculty,
staff, and researchers alike.....

And you know you want to do it! Now's your chance!

For additional information: www.cs.cmu.edu/~mobot
Registration forms are online at the site.

*CASH PRIZES!*
$1,000 1st Place
$500 2nd Place
$250 3rd Place
$250 Open Class
$250 Course Record
$100 Judges' Choice

Follows the Buggy Races.

superchiku · « **Reply #1 on:** April 06, 2008, 11:56:31 AM »

hope i could come to the competition but we all dont have equal oppurtunities i guess..

Trumpkin · « **Reply #2 on:** April 06, 2008, 02:52:25 PM »

Quote

Its in Pittsburgh, PA, at CMU

ARGHHH.... all the good robotics stuff happens in Pittsburgh.

Admin · « **Reply #3 on:** April 06, 2008, 03:26:07 PM »

Sometimes you just need to create your own opportunities.

For example, there were no robot competitions in DC until I arrived (just Bush and his politicians -ugh!). And there was no robot help site online until me either

The world is small now, one person can change everything if he/she just applies oneself . . .

(start your own local competition! or do my $200 competition and write up a tutorial)

superchiku · « **Reply #4 on:** April 06, 2008, 03:31:00 PM »

i guess the $200 competition is off for now ?

Admin · « **Reply #5 on:** April 06, 2008, 05:09:56 PM »

Quote

i guess the $200 competition is off for now ?

No, its on. I just haven't officially announced the due date yet. Sometime in early August probably, right before school starts up. Get started early if you want to win

superchiku · « **Reply #6 on:** April 07, 2008, 01:09:37 AM »

ok thats enough time ill complete in summer , whats the procedure to apply

Admin · « **Reply #7 on:** April 15, 2008, 08:08:19 PM »

I leave for my Pittsburgh flight tomorrow morning, and won't get back till Saturday evening. Wish me luck!

(sorry, I wont be around for the next few days to answer questions, but I promise videos!)

Quote

ok thats enough time ill complete in summer , whats the procedure to apply

I'll make an official announcement in the next few weeks, and you can apply then.

superchiku · « **Reply #8 on:** April 16, 2008, 12:13:07 PM »

Best of luck !!!

hope u win and bring us back a lot of videos

Admin · « **Reply #9 on:** April 16, 2008, 02:30:40 PM »

Anyone go to CMU and have or know someone who has the OV9655 camera for the Blackfin?

I was really dumb and forgot it at home . . . I need it asap.

Admin · « **Reply #10 on:** April 18, 2008, 03:24:59 PM »

So crazy the last few days. I was stupid and forgot the blackfin camera at home, so I had it overnighted to me. But DHL was lame and shipped it to CA (california) instead of PA (pennsylvania) where I was. Tracked down like four people on campus that had the cam, but only one guy thankfully loaned me it (without the proper lenses) at 9pm the day before (thanks Boris!). The shipment came in at 10am, 2 hours before the competition, and after trying some code I got lucky and it worked really really well.

The contest and award ceremony just ended.

ERP performed really well, better than I ever did before at mobot. And it was highly consistent too. =)
Didn't have time to optimize it, but it was acceptable for me.

Overall out of all classes it got 2nd place, but in my class only 1st gets a prize. I did however get Judges choice because of the pan/tilt head and the crazy arms and over designed suspension system. $100 check almost covers the flight cost =P

I'll post pics and vids here when I get time next week. For now I've burned out and gonna go out with friends tonight in the 'burgh =)

airman00 · « **Reply #11 on:** April 18, 2008, 03:35:53 PM »

Quote from: Admin on April 18, 2008, 03:24:59 PM

So crazy the last few days. I was stupid and forgot the blackfin camera at home, so I had it overnighted to me. But DHL was lame and shipped it to CA (california) instead of PA (pennsylvania) where I was. Tracked down like four people on campus that had the cam, but only one guy thankfully loaned me it (without the proper lenses) at 9pm the day before (thanks Boris!). The shipment came in at 10am, 2 hours before the competition, and after trying some code I got lucky and it worked really really well.

Wow thats a perfect example of Murphy's Law

congrats on your prize also

pomprocker · « **Reply #12 on:** April 18, 2008, 05:28:01 PM »

if you bring a robot to the airport wont they think its a bomb? or some terrorist device?

Admin · « **Reply #13 on:** April 19, 2008, 09:16:52 AM »

nope, but they often inspect my batteries separately

bombs require more than just wires - like a large quantity of explosives

superchiku · « **Reply #14 on:** April 19, 2008, 10:08:41 AM »

congrats on ur prize , good work!!

Admin · « **Reply #15 on:** April 19, 2008, 09:02:21 PM »

I'll be putting up more videos this week, but here is one of them with my bot competing. FYI, I was team 'Pikachu' like usual.

Oh and I almost forgot, huge thanks to hgordon and his Surveyor Corp for all the support on the Blackfin!

My favorite part is when a girl in the audience says "whoa its so smart!" at the beginning after the hill.

[youtube]mS5deqZ79cg[/youtube]

Spoil9 · « **Reply #16 on:** April 20, 2008, 06:28:44 AM »

Near the middle someone asks about the camera on the head looking for the line, is this better than a normal line follower for out door use?

Admin · « **Reply #17 on:** April 20, 2008, 06:46:17 AM »

The reason why people, animals, and my robot have a head is that sometimes its much easier to turn the head than the entire body to see something.

Basically, the line will always stay exactly in the center no matter what the robot body does - so that the line never goes out of view on sharp turns, etc.

If you watch the video carefully, you will see that the head does a great job tracking the line despite the robot body losing the line often.

So to answer your question, I'd say a rotating head improves the ability of a robot with a camera to track objects, lines, etc.

superchiku · « **Reply #18 on:** April 20, 2008, 08:52:40 AM »

oh.. erp really impressed the laides

"what a smart robot " lololololol...............

Admin · « **Reply #19 on:** April 20, 2008, 11:38:56 AM »

I posted two more videos of the MOBOT competition here:
http://www.societyofrobots.com/competitions_mobot_video_2008.shtml

I'll also post the official MOBOT video there as soon as its released.

bietz · « **Reply #20 on:** April 21, 2008, 02:42:34 PM »

Even Cnet talked about the Mobot race! http://www.news.com/2300-11394_3-6237824-1.html?tag=ne.gall.latest
And admin is in (page 6)!!!

Admin · « **Reply #21 on:** April 21, 2008, 03:01:39 PM »

Whoa! I'm also on page 11. I'm wearing all white . . .

The real reason it failed was because I never programmed in the decision points (where the lines split at the end). I got the cam ~2 hours before the competition, not enough time to do it . . .

sdk32285 · « **Reply #22 on:** April 21, 2008, 07:49:20 PM »

The mobot official seemed particularly impressed with pickachus arms...

Admin · « **Reply #23 on:** April 23, 2008, 06:05:19 PM »

The official CMU newspaper:
http://www.thetartan.org/2008/4/21/pillbox/mobots

Admin · « **Reply #24 on:** April 27, 2008, 11:18:16 AM »

Official MOBOT pics are up:
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/archive/2008/pages/mobot_race/

The photographer seemed to really like my ERP, its in 1/4th the pics

News:

Author Topic: MOBOT 2008 announcement (Read 4420 times)

Related Topics