RoboSub 2020 Tasks

[Daveman]

What you've all been waiting for:

The tasks for the 23rd RoboSub

Head to the RoboSub web site
Then: Program / 2020 RoboSub

From that page, you'll find the Task Ideas (Theme: 23 Skidoo)



Give 'em a look over, and let's start talking about them!

[Ledge]

Will there be a conference call set up soon so we can talk about the tasks?

[Ledge]

OK Dave here are some questions to get some discussion going here...
1. For gate -choose a direction, assuming teams does that. For AUV will there be an image in the gate for AUV to see?
2. Are style point done prior to go through gate, while going through gate or past the gate?
3. For Buoy will it be one sided and held in place so it does not rotate in water?
4. For Bins, will it be two bins total? or Two for G man and two for bootlegger?
5. For Bins with both the G-man and bootlegger bins be covered by 1/3?
6. For Bins will image inside be visible while cover in in place
7. For Bins what is meant by lift cover off, Is it a removal or a sliding thing or a flipping thing?
8. For Bins for bootlegger we mus pick up a bottle and drop in image of bottle?
9. For Torpedo will the side face staring gate be the same or random?
10. For Octagon collection of bottles is on the surface or near bottom or on bottom?
11. For Octagon for move bottles to appropriate table is that contingent of whether you are a bootlegger or G-man?

[samehrle]

Hell yea!

1. Two paths: As I understand this: we choose a role (bootlegger vs. G-man) before the run. We must maintain that role throughout all the tasks. In other words, we don’t pick a role per task. I assume following the declared role throughout all tasks results in extra point earnings. Yes / no?
2. Gate: How do you visualise the images being located relative to the physical gate? Hanging below the top PVC, so the AUVs travel under (or through…) them? Behind the gate some distance?
3. Bin: 1/3 of each bin is covered. Would we need to remove the cover, or would it be an optional task for extra points?
4. Will the two images in each bin (e.g. barrel/bottle for bootlegger’s bin) roughly divide the bin in half? So the cover will partially obscure one of the two images?
5. Any ideas what the bottle items for collecting will be made of / look like?
6. Dual AUVs: For teams working with two AUVs, how will the role/path declaration work? E.g. Both AUVs must follow the same path, each AUV can follow either/or… would the point rewards change for either scenario?

Thanks Dave!

[Bruce]

1: Is the artwork in the Task Ideas the final artwork for each task?
2: If that is the final artwork, when can we get higher resolution versions?

[Caltech Robotics Team]

These tasks look super exciting, Thanks Dave!
In addition to the questions asked above, we would like to know

1. Will the gate always have the same division (ex: gman always on the left) or is it random? (I assume the later but would like further clarification on how the images will work in that case)
2. How will the bins work/be opened (even generally, will it be a handle to lift up or like the sliding mechanism for last year)?
3. For the bins, are there two bins for each "track" (gman vs bootlegger) or are there two images in a single bin? Is there any distinction between the different images pointswise?
4. Will there still be the path following tasks from previous years? What shape will the path take?

[Daveman]

These are all awesome! Great start!

• There will be a conference call, we haven't discussed the dates yet, but we will soon. When we decide on dates/times, we'll let you know.
• These are not the final artwork, I'll put together some options to vote on. When they are finalized, I'll post the official artwork for all of the tasks.
• Dual AUV: For the most part, each vehicle is treated independently. If they complete the same task (even if it's on difference sides), we choose the best score for that task
  • Lots more detains on this, but I didn't want to get into it here.
  • Look over last years rules for more details.

Choose Your Side (Gate):

• Similar to last year, the gate will be divided by a 2" Diameter PVC pipe that will be positioned in the center of the gate
• Each of the two images will hang down from their half of the gate (so there will be an image that the sub can see)
  • Size hasn't been determined yet.
• Style: There is an area around the gate, ~10ft (3m) before and ~10ft (3m) after, within which you can perform your style points.
• Role: The side your vehicle passes through the gate determines which role you choose throughout the remaining tasks of the competition. Sticking with your role at each task will get you bonus points for each completed task.
• Which image is on which side will be random.
  • The orientation will chosen for practice days
  • They may change for semi-finals, but once set, they won't change again
  • They may change for finals, but once set, they won't change again.

Make the Grade (Buoys):

• Each buoy will probably be 2 sided so that you can bump them from either direction
• They will be held in place with two lines to minimize the rotation.

Collecting (Bins):

• Each area will have two bins (total). One will be for G-men, one will be for Bootleggers.
• Each image in the bin will take up 1/2 of the area.
  • The bottle and the barrel (if that's what we decide on) each will occupy 1/2 of the Bootlegger bin
  • The telephone and the paper (if that's we we decide on) each will occupy 1/2 of the G-man bin
  • No distinction between the images, just more features to work with
• The cover will cover 1/3 of the bin. If the cover is fully to one side, one of the images will be fully visible, and one of the image will be partially visible.
  • The cover may not be fully to one side, so each of the images might be partially covered.
• You may drop markers into the bin w/o having to remove the cover
• The cover will have a handle that you can grip and lift off the bin
• The "bottle" will probably be made from 1/2" PVC pipe
  • You can get extra points for dropping the "bottle" in either bin
  • You will get even more points for dropping the "bottle" into your bin (Bootlegger, G-man).

Survive the Shootout (Torpedo):

• I'm now leaning towards having two separate one-sided boards
  • So that one side doesn't have a huge advantage over the other side

Cash or Smash (Octagon):

• The "bottles" will be near the bottom
• For G-man: Move the "bottles" to the table with the axe
• For Bootleggers: Move the "bottles" to the table with the $
• You can also bring the "bottles" to the surface for extra points.

Not mentioned in the slides:

• There are two path segments.
  • One is positioned at the gate and points to the buoys.
  • One is positioned at the buoys and points to...
  • These will be straight lines (not "bent" like previous years).
• There are two pingers
  • One is positioned at the Cash or Smash (Octagon)
  • One is positioned at the...

Think about which of the remaining tasks (Collecting / Bin and Survive the Shootout / Torpedo), you would like to be marked with a pinger (which means the other task will have the path segment pointing to it).


Don't hesitate to ask more questions (I know you wont).

[Ledge]

For path markers, since they straight now, are they like they were before? (4ft) 1.2 meters long, (15cm) 6 inches wide, (0.3-0.6 m ) 1-2 feet tall. Orange in color? Do you have a source for the orange color? Orange florescent tape?

[dzf209]

Dave, thanks for the update. I have a few questions.

1. When crossing through the gate, if the submarine crosses through both sides (drives towards the middle), is its identity decided by the side it is more on?
2. Is it fair to say that the images (at this point) have not been finalized?
3. Are the bottles resting on the floor of the Transdec, or out they sitting on some structure?
4. Can you surface with a bottle for points, and then get more points for placing it on the table?
5. Can you pick up the bottle once it is placed on the table and then bring it to the bin for even more points?
6. How many bottles will there be?
7. If you have two vehicles, vehicle A does the torpedo challenge and vehicle B completes the bins, the team's score would be the same as if they had one submarine that completed both tasks? If that is so, how would the time bonus (if there is one this year) be awarded? Is it when awarded when a certain number of tasks have been completed by two vehicles together, or when the first submarine completes all of the necessary tasks?

Thanks for organizing the rules for this year. I look forward to the conference call.

[Daveman]

Ledge
Similar to how they used to be before. The _newly_ designed path segments can be bolted at a 90°, 45° and 0° angle (We've been using 45°). So the path segments that you've seen the past couple of years at 45° will be be bolted together at 0° (hopefully, that makes sense). I've been using printed vinyl for the color (sooo much easier), and doesn't seem to fade as quickly as the vinyl tape I also use.

dzf209

Very welcome.

1. The PVC at the midpoint defines the side. So if the center-line of your vehicle passes just to the left of the center-line of the gate (marked with the PVC pipe), it will be considered passing through the left side (similar for the right side). If it passes through dead-center, well, I'll let you call the side as long as you call it before it reaches the buoys
2. Fair and accurate
3. Depends on the final design of the bottles. If they are 2D, then they will be sitting upright in a structure. If they are 3D, then they will be sitting however they "fall" (resting on their bottom, or resting on their side).
4. This is for the Octagon task? ...as long as you surface within the octagon...
5. So take a bottle from the Octagon task, that you placed on a table, and move it all the way over to the bin task? The final tally for the tables will be the bottles on each table after the completion of your run. So while you could do that, and you could get more points at the bin tasks, you would be losing points at the octagon task. However, the choice is yours.
   1. There will be two bottles at the bin task that you can drop into the bins.
6. Current thought: 2 at the bins, and 4 at the octagon.
7. A vehicle must complete a certain number of tasks in order to obtain the time bonus, i.e touch a buoy, drop a marker in a bin (or fire a torpedo through the cutout), fully surface in the octagon. If each vehicle completes all of those tasks, than each vehicle will get a time bonus (based on when the run was stopped). The larger time bonus wins for that run. Hopefully that makes a little more sense.
   1. Vehicle A touches a buoy, drops a marker in the bin, and surfaces in the octagon with 5:00 minutes remaining
   2. Vehicle B touches a buoy, fires a torpedo through the cutout, and surface in the octagon with 6:00 minutes remaining
   3. You would get the time bonus of 6:00 minutes

[Hasan Akpunar]

Daveman Speaking of the buoy images, when do you think they would be finalized? We want to get the vinyl banners as soon as possible so we can begin getting vision data. Also for the gate, will the sub have to push past the image, and if the images are hanging from the gate wouldn't that increase the chances of getting snagged?

[Daveman]

Hasan Akpunar

I'll work on a collection of images this week (2/5/2020), and put them to a vote. Once we decide on the final images, I'll scale them up to their final size and post them.

They should be light weight enough to not cause and real drag and/or snag on the sub. But you all come up with all sorts of interesting ways to interact with my tasks, so I'm not making any promises.

[Ledge]

OK Dave,
Just trying to get some clarification here....
Saw the example you explained above about time bonus concerning two bots
Our next question is do the tasks that each bot complete mix with each others points for a maximum combination?

Example:
AUV A passes through the gate and drops marking in the bin
AUV B passes through gate and shoots torpedo through target

Question:
What is the overall score that the team gets?
Passes through gate, drops marker in bin and shoots torpedo through target? Does the team get the points of the combined efforts of the two AUVs?
Sorry if it seems we don't understand the two AUVs scoring completely.
So say the gate=10 points, bins=50 and target =30
Is our total score 90? 60? or 40?

[Daveman]

Things to remember:

• Semi-finals: Last run
• Finals: Best run

Please do ask if you ever have any questions. That is what the forum is for!

It is the combined effort of the two AUVs.

If this is a semi-final run, and that was the last run for each AUV, you would get 10+50+30 = 90
(similar for the finals, if that was each AUV best run)

[Hasan Akpunar]

Hasan Akpunar

I'll work on a collection of images this week (2/5/2020), and put them to a vote. Once we decide on the final images, I'll scale them up to their final size and post them.

Still no final images Dave?