mkb@rover.ri.cmu.edu (Mike Blackwell) (11/21/90)
For those of you interested in something a little more ambitious than the micro mouse, I just received information on the first international aerial robotics competition, to be held next July at AUVS91 in Atlanta. First prize is a $10K cash tuition award. The general idea of the competition is as follows: unmanned, autonomous air vehicle, must fit inside a 6' side diminsion cube. Computation need not be on-board: wireless data links are permitted (but no tele-operation, obviously). Course is an olymic sized tennis court. On each side of the 3' high net is a 6' diameter ring. In the middle of each ring is a xenon strobe light, one flashing at 30Hz, the other at 7.5Hz. In the first ring are 6 randomly placed disks. The disks each weigh 4 oz, are ferromagnetic, and are painted dayglow orange. The idea is to move the disks, one at a time, from the one ring to the other, without touching the ground (I believe that landing in one of the rings is permitted). The vehicle that transfers the most rings in 3 minutes (or in case of a tie, does it in the least amount of time) wins. Simple, huh? Each team may be either student or student/industrial. This is a really interesting competition. I can think of many possible solutions, involving helicopters, planes, and blimps... Should be fun, but not much time left. Anyway, if you're interested, you must submit an intention to compete by December 31. For complete rules and an entry form, write to: AUVS Atlanta c/o Georgia Tech Research Institute Aerospace Science and Technology Lab Atlanta, GA, 30332 USA Attn: Robert C. Michelson
mwtilden@watmath.waterloo.edu (M.W.Tilden, Hardware) (11/22/90)
In article <1990Nov20.165303.26874@cs.cmu.edu> mkb@rover.ri.cmu.edu (Mike Blackwell) writes: >...first international aerial robotics competition...in Atlanta... > >unmanned, autonomous >air vehicle, must fit inside a 6' side diminsion cube. Computation need >not be on-board: wireless data links are permitted (but no tele-operation, >obviously)... >...idea is to move the disks, one at a >time, from the one ring to the other, without touching the ground ... > >This is a really interesting competition. I can think of many possible >solutions, involving helicopters, planes, and blimps... Should be fun, but >not much time left. Is it just me or does this sound like one of the toughest competitions ever devised by man? Holy cow! Any device you build would have to have some extrordinary stabilizing device just running background to steady the outfit in three dimensions, and if you're using a balloon then wind turbulence from whatever propulsion you devise would play a significant part in fouling up your stabilizers. Not to mention the problem of building a device which can lift both motors, circuits and batteries in that small a volume. Hovering is no small feat, and any helicopter device would have the added problem of scattering your rings long before you got to them, or destabilizing them during transit. I've played around with robot flying machines before and was always knocked down by that damned old 10m^s^2. Does anybody know of any similar competitions in the past where such a device has been successfully made, or maybe even a commercial unit which does sorta the same thing? I'd like to see the specs on the materials/airfoils/controls that would make such a thing work. Don't get me wrong. It sounds like a fantastic competition and I wish someone would pay me to build an entry for it, but I really think it's a toughy. (By the way, if anybody saw that brilliant NOVA blimp documentary on PBS about a month ago, I'd really recommend it as a good design reference for this competition. Check your library) Is all. -- Mark Tilden: _-_-_-__--__--_ /(glitch!) M.F.C.F Hardware Design Lab. -_-___ | \ /\/ U of Waterloo. Ont. Can, N2L-3G1 |__-_-_-| \/ (519) - 885 - 1211 ext.2454, "MY OPINIONS, YOU HEAR!? MINE! MINE! MINE! MINE! MINE! AH HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!"