Cognitive Science 375

Scoring

The goal of the competition was to build a robot that could navigate a maze-like environment roughly 8'x8', find a burning candle and extinguish it.

Requirements:

• The robot's electrical components must not get wet or be damaged.
• The robot should start when it hears a loud noise (such as a clap). Once it has started, it should stop if it hears another loud noise. It should continue to cycle between these two behaviors with this stimulus.
• The LCD screen should display the current state (such as "waiting" when it is waiting for a loud noise to start, "searching" when it is trying to find the fire, and "extinguishing" when it is trying to put out the fire.
• The robot should beep once when it has found the fire.
• The robot should beep twice when it has extinguished the fire, and should then go into the "waiting" state. At this point, another loud noise should set it searching for another fire.
• The competition was held in two rounds, a preliminary and final. 1/3 of the total points from the preliminary round plus 2/3 of the total points from the final round constituted the final score.

Points were be awarded as follows:

0-10: Dist.	Maze distance from closest point to fire, computed as follows: (30-distance) / 3, where distance is in feet. Full points will be awarded if the fire is found (i.e. you don't need to get within one foot).
20: Found	Found the fire.
0-10: TTF	Time (from start) to find the fire (10 points for fastest time, 8 points for second, etc.). No points if the fire is not found.
50: Ext.	Extinguish the fire.
0-10: TTE	Time (from start) to extinguish the fire (10 points for fastest time, 8 points for second, etc.). No points if the fire is not extinguished.

Points were deducted as follows:

50:	The electronic components get wet or are damaged
10:	The robot beeps for finding a fire and hasn't
10:	The robot does not beep for finding a fire and has
10:	The robot beeps for extinguishing the fire and hasn't
10:	The robot does not beep for extinguishing the fire and has
2:	Manual intervential during the preliminary round
5:	Manual intervential during the final round

Pictures

• A view of the arena.
• Team PyroAttack getting ready.
• The winner, She-Ra, in action.
• Closeup of She-Ra.
• The Spunjmastah getting ready.
• J-Crew getting She-Ra ready.
• The judges consider scoring.
• PyroAttack searches for a candle.
• Closeup of PyroAttack.
• Closeup of SID (Sense of Impending Doom).