RobofestSM 2004 Rules

Final Version

RobofestSM is an open contest in which students (5th grade and up) can show off their robots while learning problem solving techniques, mathematics, creativity, team work, computer programming, and science and engineering concepts. Robofest 2004 has the following five divisions in two contest categories:

The competition: Teams of students compete to accomplish robotics missions emulating real world environments. Robofest competition has some unique features: Robots must be fully autonomous, with no radio/remote controls. The game rules are simple, as is the construction of the playing fields. However, both the dimension of the playing field and a part of the game scenario are unknown until the day of the competition. Any sensors, motors, and software environments / programming languages may be used.

The game for the Lego robot and advanced robot competition, "Earthquake Challenge - HTML" (or pdf) will require cooperation between two robots. There is also a competition division for college teams using laptop robots with on board camera(s). The challenge is "Obstacle Challenge - HTML" (or pdf). This college student competition is only for LTU students and held only at the LTU site. More information about the competitions is summarized in the following table:

Division Name Robot Type Used Programming Languages Grades Team Size Challenges # of Robots per Team
Lego Robot Competition Two Lego RCX robots RCX code or RoboLab 5-12 2-7 "Earthquake Challenge" 2
Advanced Robot Competition Lego RCX; Handy Boards, Basic Stamps, or other robots High-level languages such as Java, C++, VB, NQC, PBasic, IC 7-12 2-7 "Advanced Earthquake Challenge" 2
Laptop Robot Competition Laptop robot with camera(s) Any high-level languages such as Java, C++, VB, or Python College students 1-4 "Obstacle Challenge" 1

Each competition team will have two official chances to run their robots before the (semi-)final on the competition day. Unlike previous Robofests, teams are not competing in predetermined orders. For each round, whenever the team is ready to compete, they are supposed to line up with the official competition slip which can be found in the team envelope given during check-in.

The exhibition: The robotics exhibition is a great way for students to show off their creativity. Each team has complete freedom to create autonomous robotics projects such as robot pets, robot artists, dancing robots, storytelling with robots, robots for scientific experiments, and practical robotics applications. Robots may be of any size and can use any material. More information about the exhibitions is summarized in the following table:

Division Name Robot Type Used Programming Languages Grades Team Size # of Robots per Team
Lego Robot Exhibition Lego RCX robots RCX code or RoboLab 5-12 Min: 1
Max: 1+(2 x #Robots)
Any
Advanced Robot Exhibition Lego; Handy Board, Basic Stamp, or any other robots Any high-level languages such as Java, C, C++, VB, NQC, PBasic, Python, etc. 8 and up (including college students) Min: 1
Max: 1+(2 x #Robots)
Any

On the day of Robofest, each exhibition team will be given a table on which to demonstrate the robot at any time. They will also have a chance (up to 3 minutes) to explain and demonstrate their robot(s) to the public on the stage using a microphone. Teams must bring all the necessary materials for the exhibition. For example, if the robot performs a dance to music, the team must bring a CD or audio cassette tape. The sound system in the hosting site will be available to play your audiotape or CD.

General Registration Rules

Team Coaches

Team Members

Team Volunteers

The team cannot work without the help of various volunteers for the jobs such as mentoring, financial sponsoring, transportation, or constructing playing fields, taking pictures, video taping, etc. The Robofest website will list up to five volunteers per team and a certificate of appreciation will be given to each team volunteer on the Robofest day. As mentioned before, each team must provide at least one volunteer for the setup or cleanup of hosting site.

Common Sense Rules for Education

Construction of the robot body is to be done by the students. All programming is to be done by the students. Parents, teachers, mentors, or coaches may not assemble the robot bodies or write the program code for the team at any time during the preparation period or during the contest. Any direct participation (writing code, assembling robots) is a violation of the rules. The offending team will become ineligible for any awards.

Team's Responsibility on Robofest Day

General Rules

Judging and Prizes

About 20% of the total number of teams at each site will win big impressive trophies during the award ceremony. Winners are decided by several categories including, but not limited to: performance, originality, creativity, functionality, programming, construction, teamwork, team spirit, presentation, and new technology used. Every officially registered team member will receive an individual trophy and framed certificate of achievement after the award ceremony. If you do not attend the closing ceremony, it cannot be guaranteed that you will receive your awards at a later date.

Official Hosting Sites

Site Name - Site Location Host Organization Date Time Divisions Capacity
(tentative)
LTU - Lawrence Technological University
21000 West Ten Mile Road, Southfield, MI
Department of Math and Computer Science, College of Arts and Sciences, Lawrence Technological University April 24, 2004 8:30am-3:00pm Lego Competition 20
Exhibition 10
Adv. Competition 25
LaptopBot Competition 10
Macomb - Macomb Intermediated School District Building, 44001 Garfield Road,Clinton Township, MI Macomb Intermediated School District April 24, 2004 8:30am-1:30pm Lego Competition 30
Detroit - The Dexter-Elmhurst Family and Community Center (managed by Wayne County Family Independence Agency)
11825 Dexter Ave, Detroit, MI
Cranbrook Institute of Science Young Scholars Program April 24, 2004 8:30am-1:30pm Lego Competition 20
NH - RoboTech Center, 110 Daniel Webster Highway, Nashua, NH RoboTech Center April 24, 2004 8:30am-1:30pm Lego Competition 20
Adv. Competition 10
Total 145

Important Timelines


Last modified 2-21-2004. Copyright 2004 Chung
Everyone may use this game rules for your own event, however, it is requested to get the permission from the author.