We have several questions regarding the competition rules, and given the objective of the competition, which is to challenge the teams rather than to surprise them, it is crucial to address the following issues, especially if two tiles are to be placed exactly on top of each other:
Considering that some teams do not use mapping and SLAM algorithms, we request that the distance between the lower tile and the upper tile be specified and To be a fixed multiple of a distance, such as 30 centimeters. to ensure that the problem is not unsolvable for most teams. Please provide the height between the two tiles.
If specifying the exact distance between the two tiles is not possible, please at least provide the minimum distance between them.
Please clarify the lighting conditions of the lower level in the two-story parking lot areas. Is it similar to the ambient environment or different?
Will the length of the slope be a multiple of 30 centimeters, or will the horizontal distance traveled on the slope be a multiple of 30 centimeters?
Please provide more details about the competition grounds with two levels stacked on top of each other to prevent confusion among the teams.
Since the purpose of the competition is to challenge the teams’ problem-solving skills rather than to surprise them, and given that having two tiles on top of each other has not occurred in recent competitions, teams have not had the opportunity to test their robots on a standard ground with these conditions. Additionally, the lack of clear guidelines on this matter in the rules, we kindly request that if the organizers intend to include such scenarios in this year’s competition, experimental grounds with equal difficulty and challenges be made available to the teams from now on. This will allow all of us to participate in the competition with full preparedness and enjoy competing alongside each other.
It is worth mentioning that the failure to address these issues by the technical committee could lead to the inability of deserving teams to prepare adequately, making the competition heavily reliant on luck. Therefore, if the above measures are not feasible, we kindly request that you reconsider the inclusion of grounds with two tiles stacked on top of each other.
We apologize if any part of this message is unclear in English.
We won’t provide an upper limit for the height between two tiles. We considered for the 2024 rules to provide a minimum of 25 cm. We don’t believe this will cause a lot of trouble to most teams and we haven’t noticed a problem during national competitions but will continue to keep an eye on this and see if there is something we could improve next year if needed.
The minimum distance is specified in rule 2.2.6
Robots must be designed to navigate under tiles that form bridges over other tiles. Tiles placed above other tiles will be supported by walls. The minimum height (space between the floor and the ceiling) will be 25 cm.
It will be similar to the ambient environment. With this I mean we won’t be having additional light sources inside the underpasses. Teams are free to make any calibrations to the lightning conditions as always. (rules 2.7.2 and 2.7.4).
Horizontal (rule 2.1.4).
We intentionally leave this open for the teams to figure out. We define what the rules allow and it’s up to the teams to think about the different possibilities of the different maps that could be created to challenge your robot. If we define exactly the only scenarios you can see, it will remove an important learning experience. If you have specific concerns about some possible scenarios feel free to share them here.
You might want to read this other forum post. The possibility of multi-level floors has been around for a lot of years now (I remember seeing a crazy one in the 2016 competition), this is the first time we explicitly call them over in the rules to make it easier for the teams to be aware of this possibility, but there are examples from previous years where this was already implemented in national and international competitions Is there a max amount of ramps and levels in an arena? - RoboCupJunior Rescue / RoboCupJunior Rescue Maze - RoboCupJunior Forum
I also want to mention that the rules became available in October 2023, where we answered questions and made clarifications before releasing the official version of the rules, so there has been plenty of time for the teams to think about the rules, bring up any concerns and prepare for the competition.
If you have any other questions feel free to post them here!
I feel obligated to jump in and address this comment as I absolutely disagree with it and find it needlesly passive aggressive. The ultimate goal of autonomous search and rescue scenarios is to eventaully be able to deploy robots after real-world catastrophes to save peoples’ lives. If in that case the robot fails, and a person who worked on a team developing it claims something like “Oh, it would have worked, but the sun was shining too bright”, or “there was a small puddle of water on the ground” or “the ceiling was 30 cm lower/higher than we accounted for.”, would you find that a valid excuse/defence?
In this case, and in cases you describe, it is not “luck” that you have to rely on, but rather robustness of your own solutions/designs. You are designing a robot responsible for human lives! If we, as organizers serve every possible scenario and every minor detail about the environment to you on a silver platter and don’t make you think about many unpredictable circumstances and scenarios or minor changes in lighting or similar, and make you design solutions that are able to cope with them, we failed in preparing you for the challenges that the future will, most certainly, bring.
I hope you can understand where I am comming from,
Matej
2024 committee
