Event

Have you ever thought of designing your own Visual navigation systems? Perhaps it may seem too weird a thought. But imagination serves as wings to technology. At DigitEyes, design a robotic system that traces its path by sampling the hint signals and reaches the target positions.

Format

Build a robotic vehicle that takes input from a PC with a webcam connected to it. The webcam takes pictures of the arena, the PC processes the picture and sends control signals to the robot.

Arena
Isometric View (left) and Top View(right)

Specifications

• The robot has to be a single unit which fits in a box of size 20cm X 20cm X 20cm. No further expansion / division is allowed.
• The size of the arena will be 2m X 2m.
• Each block of BULBs will be of size 20cm X 20cm.

Other Details

• The web-cam will be positioned vertically above the geometric center of the arena and will be able to scan the complete arena.
• The attached computer processes the input and sends control signal to the robotic vehicle.
• The arena contains red and green bulbs (60W each) arranged in a grid.
• The green BULB lights up showing the next destination. Only one green BULB lights up at once.
• Red BULB signifies a hurdle. Points where a red BULB is lit up should not be crossed by the robot.
• The software for guiding the robot needs to be coded by the participant in a language of his/her choice.
• The compiler for the program should be specified well in advance. The installation need to be brought by the participant or can be provided by the organizers, if requested well in advance and the software if freeware.
• On reaching the assigned green block, a new destination will be assigned, and a new set of hurdles (red BULBs) will appear. You have a total of 3 minutes to cover as many green blocks as possible.

Rules and Judgement

• A team may consist of a maximum of 4 members.
• The robot CANNOT be navigated manually
• The participants need to email their complete Source Code latest by February 28, 2010 to the email address mentioned here with the subject "DIGITEYES SOURCE CODE". They should also mention the compiler and OS they intend to use. This is just a verification process for your registration to the event. They will receive a confirmation email upon receipt of the Code. Do not forget to mention your names, contact numbers and Conscientia 2010 Registration Pins.
• Each team will get a maximum of three trials. The best score out of the three will be considered for judging.
• In case the robot gets stuck or any adjustments have to be made during a run, the trial will be deemed cancelled.
• Between two consecutive trials, a maximum of 5 minutes will be allotted to make any necessary changes in the software/ hardware.
• Leaving any marks or causing any form of damage will lead to disqualification.
• The robot has to produce an audio-visual indication on reaching a destination. The operator will then give a new set of hurdles and destination.
• The OS on the computer will be Ubuntu 9.04 and Windows XP. Choice of OS has to be specified at the time of registration. This can be changed later, subject to the approval of the organizers.
• The team covering maximum number of green blocks while avoiding maximum red points will be declared winner.
• The best score of the 3 trials will be considered as the final score of the team.
• A Team earns 3 points for reaching a Green Block.
• A team loses 1 point for moving over/hovering the red point.
• If the team requests the operator to skip a green block, they will be provided with another set of destination and hurdles. This will result in a penalty of 3 points and timer will not be paused for this duration.
• The duration of each trial is 3 minutes.
• For queries and clarifications, contact botintheact[at]conscientia[dot]co[dot]in.

The decision of the judges/organisers will be final and binding on all.
Eligibility
Open to all college students with valid ID cards.

Loopholes

Since no rules are perfect, an easy win in any event is finding loopholes. We make it easier for you. We present the loopholes for you to try them out!

• You can manually take pictures from the webcam!
• You can make multiple programs to do the task!
• Programs can be in different languages to ease your task. Like image processing in MATLAB, control in C++!
• Control signals can be sent through a wire or wirelessly.

Psst... If you find any more loopholes do drop us a line at botintheact[at]conscientia[dot]co[dot]in ;)

Resources

Communicating between a PC and a robot can be easily achieved using the serial port in a PC. To communicate via the serial port using C++ the following link will prove helpful:
http://pvbrowser.org/pvbrowser/sf/manual/rllib/html/classrlSerial.html

A very helpful resource for learning about the digital image formats can be found here. BMP images are stored in the simplest digital image format.

A very simple program to read a BMP file in C++ is given on this page. This program reads a BMP file and then "DRAWS" the BMP file using the graphic functions of C++.

A very powerful tool for image processing can be found here. Te software is a 30 day free trial. Since it is not a free software, you cannot use it in the event. It is provided here for you to learn the basics.

For a complete list of various tools/libraries available for image processing see this page.

Sample program, in MATLAB, to read and decipher the colors can be found here.