NATIONAL ROBOSPRINT 2013
Rule Book
25th December 2012
University of Central Punjab
www.ucp.edu.pk
National RoboSprint
A National Educational Campaign
RoboSprint 2012 was an all Pakistan national robotics competition being hosted by Center for
Advanced Studies in Engineering (CASE) on 14-15 July, 2012. The idea had its roots in an annual
robotics competition regularly held within CASE to promote passion for the field of robotics among
its students. It was initiated by the CASE Robotics Group (CRG) and its success has bred the
confidence to take it to the national level, where it would serve as a National Educational Campaign
in itself.
CRG has managed to bring both national and international laurels by consistently winning various
competitions like the National Engineering Robotics Competition (NERC), organized by EME
College, NUST and ROBOCON sponsored by World Broadcasting Association (WBA). One of the
robots named ‘Ayaan Rover’ has won at NASCON 2010 and EMCOT 2010 as well.
The idea of RoboSprint thus caught fancy of most of the engineering schools, and more than Seventy
teams from different universities have arrived for the competition. The robotics knowledge base
developed at CASE was being openly shared, and as per commitment, CASE team educated
engineering students of Pakistan through two distinguished programs; the National Student
Coordination Program (NSCP), and Special Robotics Seminars. This novel altruistic concept morphs
RoboSprint 2012 from merely a robotics competition into a fully‐fledged national educational
campaign. Under NSCP, CASE assigned co-supervisors to all registered teams, and about 23 Special
Robotics Seminars were delivered at 17 universities across Pakistan.
In order to provide equal opportunity for participants from other cities, CASE collaborated with
University of Central Punjab (UCP), Lahore and PAF-Karachi Institute of Economics & Technology
(PAF-KIET), Karachi where RoboSprint competition fields were constructed through its own
investment. These fields and the field at CASE were open for robots’ testing and demonstration by
any student.
CRG is fully geared up to use the platform of RoboSprint to infuse the passion of latest technologies
in the young engineering students of Pakistan. Our students are extremely enthusiastic and, with
such hands-on engineering education, would form the core of future technology leaders in Pakistan.
RoboSprint is an excellent opportunity for the tech-savvy youth of Pakistan to hone their skills and
achieve excellence in a tough and advanced field. This youthful, hi-tech activity is important for
projecting a positive outlook for Pakistan and, at the same time, for developing a solid streak of
technological learning and advancement among our young children.
The field of robotics brings the industry and academia together, who need to join hands in the
interest of national development. The hosts of RoboSprint are working hard for the success of this
extra ordinary event.
As promised by the RoboSprint Headquarters to make it a truly national event, the competition was
declared to be a rotation based contest. A transparent process was initiated by the headquarters to
provide equal opportunity to the Pakistani institutes who wish to host the event in future. By virtue
of this process Bids were submitted by 5 distinguished engineering institutes of Pakistan including
University of Engineering and Technology Lahore, University of Central Punjab Lahore, PAFKarachi Institute of Economics & Technology (PAF-KIET), Sir Syed university of Engineering and
Technology Karachi and Pakistan Navel Engineering College NUST. The bid from University of
Central Punjab was declared to be the best by RoboSprint National Board.
On behalf of University of Central Punjab we welcome you to the new battle where it’s not
about competing but it’s all about learning. We plan on making this event a grand experience
for all the participants. Learning can also be fun; we plan on making social events, a formal
dinner and extensive media coverage part of RoboSprint 2013.
Share-Collaborate-Innovate.
Happy RoboSprinting
1. COMPETITION OUTLINE
There are three categories for RoboSprint 2013. The General Category is the main one which allows
any registered university or school student to take part in the competition. General Category’s task
is complex and involves extensive brainstorming on mechanical/electrical designs and ability to
produce some intelligent algorithms. General Category has also a commensurate prize money of
3,05,000 PKR. The task to be achieved under General Category has been entailed briefly in 1.5 and
all the main details given in this Rule Book are pertaining to the General Category unless otherwise
specified. The Showcase Category is described in section 1.2.
The Special Category is a simpler version of the General Category. This category revolves around a
subtask of General Category to encourage Junior Year students and School Students to participate
in the competition and learn from their experience when teams from all over Pakistan gather in
Lahore. Special Category has further been divided into two leagues i.e. Special Category Senior and
Special Category Junior. Special Category Senior is open for anyone who is a registered student at
any university of Pakistan. Special Category Junior is reserved only for School Students from any
registered school of Pakistan. It may involve any student who is in 12 th grade or lower. Special
Category Task has been briefly described in 1.7. The Special Category Senior carries prize money of
90,000 PKR, whereas Special Category Junior carries prize money worth of 60,000 PKR.
1.2 SHOWCASE CATEGORY
If anyone has made a working robot that he would like to show off to the nation, it could be
displayed in this category. The finalists in this category will be decided by the organizers. Teams that
have made biped robots, aerial robots, robots that can operate on or under water to name a few
are encouraged to apply in this category. You will all be given due coverage and some prize money.
1.3 IMAGE BASED GUIDANCE
This year we encourage the participants to use acquired images instead of lines for location of
objects and guiding the robots. The idea of digital image processing may seem daunting to some
but it’s actually an easier method. You can place a camera on the robot but the recommended
method is to place a camera above the arena that will take a single snap shot. Your robot can then
detect different objects and hurdles in the arena based on color and map pixels to cm……. there are
several ways of doing it. But how is that possible without a computer????? Well, a single board
computer (SBC) like the beagleboard, beaglebone, pandaboard or rapsberrypi can do all this. They
all come with a powerful processor, ample RAM and a USB port. These SBC’s are small boards that
can fit in the palm of your hand. Attach a USB Wi-Fi dongle and hang a wireless IP camera above;
not that difficult! We will post a basic solution and guidelines online soon.
1.4 SENSOR BASED GUIDANCE
If you don’t want to play with images, you are welcome to use any kind of sensor you’re
comfortable with. It can be an IR sensor, sonar sensor, Laser (LIDAR) sensor etc. You can use a
digital compass IC for orientation of your robot. We encourage you to think out of the box and
come up with new ideas.
1.5 MORE INTELLIGENCE
This year we want our robots to be a little more intelligent and less preprogrammed. The field will
be part static and part dynamic. Your robot will have to deal with more than one possible scenario.
Details are in sections 2 and 3.
1.6 GENERAL CATEGORY
In the General Category, each team consists of one automatic robot.
In Scenario 1(qualifying round), the robot needs to locate and grab object 1 and successfully place it
inside base 1 (at least one corner of object 1 should be inside the base. Location of object 1 and
base 1 is fixed for all scenarios. Time allowed is 2 minutes.
In Scenario 2 the robot must locate and grab object 1 and place it in base 1. Then the robot must
proceed to locate object 2 (movable hurdles will be in the way) and place it in base 2. Location of
object 2 is not fixed; it can be in any of the specified positions shown in the figure but will be same
for both contestants in one match. Time allowed is 5 minutes.
Scenario 3 is a repeat of Scenario 2 but with more hurdles. Time allowed is 5 minutes
There are no lines to follow! Objects, hurdles and bases will be detected/located based on their
respective colors. Objects are blue, hurdles are red and bases are green.
1.7 SPECIAL CATEGORY
In the special category task (both Senior & Junior) the robot must locate and grab object 1 and place
it in base 2.
2. GAME FIELD SPECIFICATIONS
2.2 The field consists of a Game Area having the dimensions of 320 x 320 cm and surrounded by a
wooden fence with a height of 4 cm and a thickness of 1 cm. An additional 120 x 120 cm area
for base 2 is at one end of the field.
2.3 The objects will be of cubic shape, 20 x 20 x 20 cm with a handle on the top for ease of lifting.
Please refer to the figure for details. The objects will be made of light wood (less than a cm
thick) and easy to lift.
2.4 The hurdles will be of cubic shape 30 x 30 x 30 cm. They will be made of the same light material
as the objects and will be movable (not attached to the field).
2.5 The bases will be circular in shape with a diameter of 50 cm. The edge of the base will have a
wall around it that is 4 cm high.
2.6 The base will be made of formite wooden sheet, light grey in color. The only other permanently
fixed color on the field will be base 1 and base 2 which will be painted green.
3. GAME PROCEDURE
3.1 The match starts with the robot in the bottom right corner of the field. The robot will
have to locate and grab object 1 and place it in base 1. Then it must proceed to locate
object 2 and place it in base 2. Base 2 is common for both robots. The first robot that
places object 2 in base 2 is the winner.
3.2 The match ends if one robot has placed object 2 in base 2 or if the allowed time is up or if
disqualification is announced in the game or if the judges feel that the match should not
continue.
3.3 Setting of Robots
3.3.1 2 minutes are given for setting of robots before the game starts. 2 minutes extra will
be given to those teams that need to place a camera above.
3.3.2 Only the team members can engage in setting of robots.
3.3.3 Any team that fails to complete the setting of the robots within the specified time
can resume the setting again once the game starts. The match will start
instantaneously as the setup time elapses.
3.3.4 After starting any robots, the team members must leave the game field
immediately.
4. ROBOT RETRIES
4.1 A retry can be made only after the judge’s permission.
4.2 Team members are allowed to touch the robots while preparing for a retry.
4.3 There is no restriction on number of retries a robot can take.
4.4 The retry will be from the start zone.
4.5 No extra score will be awarded on redoing the previously done task. The earned score
still remains.
4.6 The team can call for a retry for a number of reasons e.g. if they dropped the object, the
robot gets stuck in a corner or if the participant desires so expecting any other
malfunction in robot operation.
4.7 There are no penalties for a retry.
4.8 The timer will not be reset for the retry.
5. RULES DECIDING THE WINNING TEAM
5.1 SCENARIO 1 (Qualifying Rounds)
5.1.1 Lifting the object 20 points
5.1.2 Placing the object in base 1 30 points
5.2 SCENARIO 2 (For all Rounds up to Quarter Finals)
5.2.1 Lifting object 1, 20 points
5.2.2 Placing the object in base 1, 30 points
5.2.3 Lifting object 2, 40 points
5.2.4 Entering the smaller area around base 2, 40 points
5.2.5 Placing object 2 in base 2, 20 points
5.3 SCENARIO 3 (For Semi Finals and Finals)
5.3.1 Same as for Scenario 2
5.4 A robot must complete all the proceeding rounds in order to reach the Finals.
6. ROBOT DESIGN RULES
6.1 The robots in the contest must be built by team members from the same institute or
university.
6.2 Each robot must perform the tasks automatically after it is started by a team member.
6.3 In the start zone, the robot must have its dimensions within 60cm width and length and
90cm height. There is no limitation on the dimension of the robot after the game starts.
6.4 Max weight of the robot is 25 kg. Weighing will be done during the robot examination
session and also before the start of each match.
6.5 Power source of the robots:
6.5.1 Each robot has to be driven by a battery pack. It should be a stand-alone system
without any electrical cords attached to the mains. No switching of power supplies is
allowed.
6.5.2 Pneumatic systems are allowed and the maximum allowable pressure is 6 bars.
6.5.3 Any other power sources are banned. If you wish to use one, please get prior
approval from the Chief Organizer of the competition.
6.6 SENSORS
6.6.1 Teams are allowed to use any kind of sensors for locating the objects and mapping
routes.
6.6.2 Teams can use a camera above for image based sensing. In such cases an adjustable
stand will be provided at the time of the competition. The team can also bring their
own stand. The robot must communicate with the camera using any wireless
protocol.
6.6.3 Teams can choose to attach a camera to the robot.
6.6.4 IR sensors, color sensors, sonar sensors, laser (lidar) sensors…….. All allowed! In fact
we encourage you to think out of the box and come up with new ideas.
6.6.5 Use of explosives, fire, inflammable or dangerous chemical substances is prohibited.
7. RULES CONCERNING DISQUALIFICATION
7.1 The team damages or tries to damage the field, facilities, equipment of robots belonging
to other teams.
7.2 The team performs any acts that are not in the spirit of fair play.
7.3 The team fails to obey instructions or warnings issued by the judges.
7.4 Over weight robots.
7.5 Operation over the permissible maximum voltage.
7.6 Over sized robots.
7.7 Repetition of the same violation 3 times in a match.
7.8 Any other reason deemed appropriate by the judges/jury.
8. PRIZE MONEY
8.1 GENERAL CATEGORY
Winner
1st Runner up
2nd Runner up
Best Engineering Design
Best Idea Award
1,25,000 PKR
60,000
40,000
50,000
30,000
8.2 SPECIAL CATEGORY SENIOR:
Winner
40,000
st
1 Runner up
30,000
2nd Runner up
20,000
8.3 SPECIAL CATEGORY JUNIOR:
Winner
30,000
1st Runner up
20,000
nd
2 Runner up
10,000
8.4 SHOWCASE CATEGORY
Each team will be awarded
Questions?
Contact:
Visit our website:
5,000
Fesal Toosy (UCP)
Ali Syed
(CASE)
www.ucp.edu.pk/robosprint
Tentative Date: 21st August, 2013
Registration deadline: 30th May, 2013
robosprint@ucp.edu.pk
alisyed@case.edu.pk