Robocon International Design Contest -- Summer 2011
Table Description & Contest Rules

RoboHacks:
Mechanizing MIT’s Best Practical Jokes
Table Description & Objectives

Roof of the maingroupThe MIT
Dome

Entrance tothe infinite
corridor

Exit theinfinite
corridor

Balloon
Killian
Court

Startingboxes

BalloonCaltech’sCannon
Air fitting
Air fitting
MemorialDrive

Police cars

Elastic surgical tubing. Note that attachment details
at either end may change slightly before the contest

Your mission: At MIT, the word “hack” refers to a practical joke on a large scale.
You will design and build robots to reproduce some of the greatest hacks of all time.
You seek to score by putting police cars on the dome, by inflating a balloon under theHarvard vs Yale football game, by dumping superballs in Killian Court, and by stealing
the Caltech cannon. Robots begin inside their respective starting boxes. Once time starts,
your robot(s) may leave the box, but your robot may not cross to the opposite side until
one of your robots has passed through the infinite corridor. For the first 20 seconds, yourrobot operates autonomously and in the subsequent 100 seconds under radio control.

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Scoring
There are four types of scoring items in this game: police car, balloon, superball and thecannon.
The details related to these possible scoring tasks are listed below:You score 30 points for putting your police car on the very top of the dome and15 points for putting your police car on any lower part of the dome.
You earn one point for each of up to 5 super-balls you dump from the roof onto
Killian court.
You score one point for each liter of air you fill into your balloon
You can multiply your score earned in other tasks by up to a factor of four by
moving the cannon along Memorial drive toward your side of the table. Thefarther the cannon has moved toward your side, the higher your multiplier.

Based on the above description, the scoring formula is:
Score= (p + s + b)*c
p – The police car. If you put your police car on the top of the dome, p=30, if you put
your police car on the lower part of the dome, p=15, otherwise p=0.
b – The largest volume of the balloon that you attained during the match (in liters) up toa maximum of 35 liters.
s – The number of your superballs (up to 5) that you dumped into Killian court from theroof of Building 10.
c – The position of the cannon, specifically, how far the cannon moved toward your sideof the table. This scores a multiplier up to a maximum of 4. The distance moved isdivided by 9 inches and rounded up to the nearest integer to give the multiplier. Marks
will show what score was attained.

Scoring Example:
Blue has scored his police car on the top area of the dome, pumped the balloon to 3 liters,did not dump the superballs, and moved the cannon 17 inches from the center toward theblue side.
Blue’s score (30 + 0 + 3 )*2 = 66
Red did not score her police car, pumped the balloon to 19 liters, dumped all five of hersuperballs, and had moved the cannon 19 inches from the center toward the red side
before blue moved it back onto the blue side.
Red’s score (15∙0 + 5 + 19)*3 = 72
Red has a higher score and therefore wins.
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Robocon International Design Contest -- Summer 2011
Scoring in General: Referees are empowered to make all scoring judgments andinterpretation of rules. Defensive actions are generally allowed to prevent or to makescoring more difficult but strictly subject to the rules described below. For example,pushing, pulling, or lifting an opponent are acceptable. Damaging an opponent or thetable is not allowed.
Scoring with the police car: A police car scores 30 points if it has been placed on thetop of the dome and is supported exclusively by it. The top of the dome is defined as theraised circular section whose diameter is about 5 inches (13 cm). A police car scores 15
points if it has been placed on the dome including areas other than the top of the dome
and is supported exclusively by the dome. The police car must be resting stably on thedome, at least momentarily, and not additionally supported by or touching your robot in
any way. The car scores for the robot on whose side it was originally parked. Eachpolice car can score only once. A police car, once positioned on the dome scores points
even if it’s knocked down later on. The car is about 5 inches long, 2 inches wide, 1.5
inches tall, and weighs about 1 N. The car will be initially positioned on Memorial drive,on the marked locations North of the partition in the road, inboard of building 1 or 2, andfacing outboard, and one car will be on each side of the table.
Scoring with the balloon: You earn points for pumping up the balloon. The largest
volume of the balloon during the regulation time of the round determines your score.
One point is awarded per liter of volume, rounding down to the nearest integer. If theballoon bursts (due to inflation, not due to robots puncturing it), you earn the maximum
score of 35. To fill the balloon, you must use the access point provided on the table. Todeliver air to that access point, you can incorporate into your robot a pump of your own
design or a source of compressed air of up to 60 psi gauge pressure. Your opponent could
interfere with your pumping operations as long as it is not via damaging your robot. For
example, they could push you off of the pneumatic fitting.
Scoring with the superballs: You score one point for each superball you deploy fromthe roof of building 10 into Killian court. Each side has its own set of 5 balls. At thestart of the round, the superballs must be within the starting box and can be contained orheld by the robot in any way you choose. Each ball counts only if the robot that releases
it is supported exclusively by the roof when it releases the ball and the ball is at the roof
level or higher and is above building 10 when it is released and the ball lands within thegreen area of Killian court.
Scoring with the cannon: A cannon is firmly attached to a truck on Memorial Drive.
The truck is firmly attached to a rail. Forces may be applied to the truck and/or theelastic surgical tubing, but not to the cannon itself. The value of the multiplier isdetermined by the displacement of the center of the cannon (and the truck to which it’sfixed). Moving the cannon by between 9 to 18 inches toward your side earns a 2X
multiplier, moving it by 18 to 27 inches earns a 3X multiplier, and so on up to a
maximum of a 4X multiplier. Scoring a 4X multiplier requires overcoming about 7
pounds of tension in an elastic band.
Defensive actions are generally allowed.
Something can be placed to block the truck or the cannon as long as it does not damage
the table or its parts. The multiplier for each side is determined by the maximum
displacement toward each side during the official timing of the round.
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Robocon International Design Contest -- Summer 2011

Rules & Regulations
1. General Principles
a. These rules are intended to create opportunities to learn engineering.
b. Those things not specifically forbidden are allowed.
2. Timinga. Each round of the contest is two minutes (120 seconds) long.
b. For the first 20 seconds, no control signals may be sent to the robot. Sothat your robot can sense the start of the round, an LED will light. TheLED will be positioned in the building and at the center of the outboard
face of your starting box.
c. If both players agree to not use the first 20 seconds, then the match will
last 100 seconds.
3. Winning & Advancing
a. There will be a single elimination tournament with 16 slots in the bracket.
b. In the tournament, the highest scoring robot in each match advances to thenext round. In general, only one machine may advance. If there is a tie, itwill be broken by weighing the two systems. The lighter machine
prevails. Only the parts of the machine fielded in that round will beweighed.

4. Control
a. Team members must control their own machines. Two team members at amaximum can be actively involved in manipulating the controls.
b. All control must be accomplished without contacting the robot.
c. Control may be achieved via radios and, in addition, any another wirelessdevice approved by the referees (e.g. a TV remote control, a laser pointer,a cell phone, Xbee, Bluetooth, etc).
d. A contestant may use up to eight channels of radio control. Contestants
may add more degrees of control by using means in addition to radios
such as a TV remote control or laser pointer.
e. A contestant may not deliberately interfere with the radio or other remotecontrol of the opposing player.
f. Robot drivers must wear safety glasses when in the vicinity of the table.
Some prescription glasses are acceptable.

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Robocon International Design Contest -- Summer 2011

5. Robot Configurationa. Your entire robot must fit in the Starting Box at the time of impounding
and at the beginning of each match when set up on the table. The startingbox is defined by the limits of the court on the actual tables with 1mm ofbuffer all around. They are about 15.5″ by 15.5″, but there is somevariation. Make sure your robot fits in every starting box on every table.
In addition, the robots are limited to 18” height with lateral constraints
extending up from the court below. Note that the “starting box” is a bit
more than twice the height of the buildings surrounding the starting box.
The box is “virtual” and has no actual walls or a door. The robot may nottouch the buildings at the start. There must be a small gap between thestarting box and the adjacent building.
b. Your entire robot must be made from the kit materials and components, aspecified list of approved items (fasteners and items in the stock cabinet),approved batteries, and electronic components authorized by the referees.
A restricted list of recycled items is allowed including soda bottles (up to2 liters volume total) made of PETE (a clear plastic), VHS tapes, andcorrugated cardboard. Items that primarily serve to make robots look coolgenerally will be allowed including LEDs, seven-segment displays, andsuch items. There are no chemicals in the kit or supply cabinet aside fromepoxy, cyanoacrylate adhesive, grease, and such things. For example,baking soda and vinegar would make a great balloon inflation means, butthey are not in the kit and can’t be in your robot. Electric motors (or otheractuators) taken from appliances (or other household or industrialequipment) are not considered recycled items.
c. Your “kit” includes up to 12 cubic inches of 3D printed parts. You arealso limited to consuming up to 5 cubic inches of support material.
d. Your “kit” also includes services to process materials in your kit. You
have, at your disposal, one hour of waterjet or laser cutting and four hoursof machining services from the Central Machine Shop.

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Robocon International Design Contest -- Summer 2011
a. Your kit includes some actuators literally in your bin when it is issued toyou (two SpringRC Continuous Rotation, one VS-2, one VS-11, and one
motor with planetary gear either a BO-P5 40:1 or BO-P6 120:1). Your"kit" also can be augmented with some actuators from a menu. The menu
includes alternatives from two columns as shown below. There can berepeats from column A (for example, you could get 2 VS-11s or 4 VS2As). You must show your design and justify your selection to get theseitems.
Column B
Column A (choose 2)(choose1,limited supplies)
VS-11
VS-10
VS-2A or SpringRC
Pneumatics
Kit(set of two)
Alternative pneumatic cylinders
BO-P5 40:1
Baremotor (Tamiya or Micro-motion)
BO-P6 120:1
b. Crossing to the other side of the table is permitted, but only after yourrobot has successfully travelled through the infinite corridor. Crossing tothe other side is defined by breaking the plane that extends verticallythrough the middle of the table. Reaching across (e.g., to grasp an objector block your opponent) is NOT allowed until your robot has navigated
the infinite corridor. Violation of this rule will be penalized by reducing
your score to zero for deliberate or major violations or else one point
penalties for each inadvertent or minor violation. Being forced to theopposite side by your opponent is not a violation. If one of your robots
traverses the infinite corridor, it has “punched your ticket” for the entire
system and then any one of your robots can break the mid-plane.
c. Successfully travelling through the infinite corridor is defined as entering
through the opening within the starting box and exiting through any
opening on your opponent’s side. The opening by building 10 has avertical plexi-glass partition so that the referees can more easily ensurethat you entered fully on the opponent’s side. The robot that traverses thecorridor has to be a machine that is substantially complete andsubstantially under control by radio or software. For example, a projectile
fired through the corridor is not “substantially under control” but a simple
wall following robot is. The robot must fully emerge from its exit, atleast momentarily.
d. There is no limit on machine weight, but you should generally still attend
to the weight of your machine as excess weight may lead to poor
performance. Also, weight of your system will be used as a tie breaker.
e. Energy may be stored in batteries, compressed air, elastic strain, andgravitational potential energy. Total stored energy may not exceed 30kJ.
This limit will be enforced by the referees based on calculations the teammust provide. Compressed air may not exceed 60 psi gauge pressure.
Mechanisms using large amounts of rubber or springs must have adequate
safety locks to reduce the chance of accidents. These locks may beremoved once all contestants and onlookers are safely away from the6 of 7

Robocon International Design Contest -- Summer 2011device. Safety of all forms of energy storage will be at the discretion of
the faculty and judges.
f. Contestants will be responsible for charging their own batteries,compressed air containers, springs, rubber bands, etc.
g. Your machine may be reconfigured between rounds. One reason toreconfigure is to accommodate the differences between the right and left
sides of the field. You will know at least 5 minutes before you compete
which side your machine will be assigned.
h. You will have access to set up your machine within the starting box prior
to each round. You should be able to complete your set-up fully in lessthan three minutes.

6. Sporting Conduct & Safety
a. Damaging or overturning an opponent’s robot is not allowed (althoughblocking and push and lifting are allowed).
b. Once scoring is accomplished, it cannot be reversed by defensive actions,but additional scoring can be prevented.
c. Damaging the contest table and or control equipment is strictly forbidden.
d. In the case of destruction deemed by the judges to be accidental, thejudges may permit repairs and a rematch.
e. Contestants and spectators (i.e. any human beings) may not directly affectthe motion of the machines or anything else on the table.
f. Any robot components or table items that depart the table cannot be
manually re-introduced to the table during a round. It is permissible todrive a robot off the table during a round. It is permissible for a robot toreach outside the boundaries of the table during a round.
g. Nets or entanglement devices are not permitted, but other defensive
devices generally are permitted.
h. NO DANGEROUS MACHINES. THE JUDGES’ DECISIONS ONSAFETY MUST BE RESPECTED AND OBEYED PROMPTLY.
General questions may be asked of all participating faculty, graduate students,
undergrad assistants, and staff of Robocon. However, all officially sanctioned ruleinterpretations will be made by the referees. The key rulings will be discussed every
morning at the opening meeting. The questions and answers will also be archives at
the Robocon Stellar site. This archive represents the official position of the Robocon
leadership and has legal standing similar to precedent and case law in the US legalsystem.

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