Torneo de Robótica Educativa. By Fundación ASTI
Desafío internacional de robótica para alumnos de Bachillerato, Formación Profesional y Universidad.
CONTACTO
info@astichallenge.com
CONTACTO

THE CHALLENGE

ASTI-UAH INDUSTRIAL ROBOT OBSTACLE RACE COMPETITION

The robot has two controlled active wheels and two passive ones. The onboarded sensorization system is known and based on laser technology. The route includes three obstacles, two with identical rectangular section O1 and O2 that will be skirted by the robot, and an A0 arc through which the robot must pass. In addition to the mentioned fix obstacles, there are four corners delimiting the test area as reference elements. The identification of objects must be done according to their known size. In the work area there is another robot smaller (see figure 2), also provided by ASTI, making a predefined route T0 continuously at a predefined constant speed around the arc A0. The robot controlled by the competitor must maneuver to always maintain a safe distance from the intruder robot.

The incorporation of technological novelties as well as obstacle detection and maneuverability algorithms of industrial robots is a known challenge in the IROS community. The main interest of this new competition is the adaptation and interaction of competitors with an industrial robot to complete an obstacle race without global positioning systems. Competitors must use an Easybot provided by the ASTI company (see figure 1).

THE RACE SCENARIO INCLUDES:

The race scenario includes:

  • Robot R1 actuated by the competitor through a CAN interface. Also, he/she will have access to the pointclouds provided by the LIDAR placed in the front of R1.
  • Robot R2 to be avoided.
  • Two obstacles, O1 and O2 with rectangular section (2mx0.5m) and height 1m.
  • An A0 arc with free zone 3m wide and 2m high.
  • A cylinder C0 of 0.5m diameter and 1 meter high at arrival point.
  • Four corners of 1mx1m and 90⁰ delimiting the test area.

RULES AND SCORING SYSTEM

The competitor robot R1 leaves P1. The robot R1 skirts the obstacle O1 counterclockwise maintaining a minimum distance of 1m. Then R1 has to go through the A0 arc, and follow it up to the O2 obstacle. R1 should guarantee, along its way, a security distance of 0.5m respect to R2. As in the case of O1 obstacle, the O2 obstacle must be bordered counterclockwise. Finally, the robot R1 will locate the cylinder C0 and stop at a distance of 1m away from it. There will be a maximum time to reach P2. Previously to the challenge, every competitor will have 60 minutes to perform the calibrations with the physical industrial mobile robot. Scoring:

  • Border O1: 10points. Border saving the protection zone: 10+10points (maximum score 20points)
  • Go through the arch A0: 10points. Pass the arc saving the protection zone: 10+10points (maximum score 20pts)
  • Border O2: 10points. Border saving the protection zone: 10+10points (maximum score 20points)
  • Reach the arrival point C0 within the admitted distance (between 0.9 and 1.1m): 20points
  • Perform the journey guaranteeing a minimum distance with robot R2 of 0.5m: 20points

IROS 2018 MADRID

PROGRAM OF ACTIVITIES

PHASE I (Deadline 15 June 2018)

Phase I (deadline 15 June 2018) In this phase the teams will send a video with the simulation of a robot like the real, executing the tasks of the competition and optionally a technical note with the description of the solution. The recommended simulation platforms are based on either ROS or Matlab, but any other simulator platform can be used if it is preferred. In addition, the teams will be able to attach the source code and whatever source files to demonstrate that the simulated robot can accomplish the mission if it is considered necessary, this point is optional. The teams able to demonstrate by simulation the completion of the required tasks will be able to participate in the phase II. The performance of the robot will not be neither quantified nor valued in the phase I to advance to the phase II. The phase I is only required to check that the teams have a minimum reasonable control strategy to be able to work with a real robot. A technical note describing the simplified robot’s geometry will be given to the teams when they join the challenge. The robot will use a lidar LMS100, this model is available in ROS libraries.

PHASE II (October 1-5)

In this phase the teams will be able to test and calibrate their hardware in the industrial mobile robot, as well as physically execute the challenge. The teams will have to send previously a short paper (maximum 4 pages) and a poster describing the technical solution. The posters will be exhibited during the competition.

A tentative program for the competition of the phase II is the following: 2 nd of October 2018 Time Activity Comments

9:00 – 09:30 Reception of participants

09:30 – 11:00 Calibration round 1

11:00 – 11:30 Coffe break

11:30 – 13:30 Calibration round 2

13:30 – 14:30 Lunch

14:30-17:00 Calibration round 3

3 rd of October 2018 Time Activity Comments

9:00 – 11:30 Competition round 1

11:00 – 11:30 Coffe break

11:30 – 13:30 Competition round 2

13:30 – 14:30 Lunch

14:30-17:00 Competition Final Round

17:00-17:30 Coffe break

17:30-18:30 Final award event

18:30 End

PARTICIPANTS

This competition is open to research groups interested in mobile robotics, individual researchers, and students. List of potential participants:

  • ATLAS Team: Janis Tiemann, Fabian Eckermann and Christian Wietfeld. TU Dortmund University, Communication Networks Institute (CNI). Otto-Hahn-Str. 6, 44227 Dortmund, Germany
  • King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang. Bangkok, Thailand
  • R&D Dept, TopoRTLS. Minsk, Belarus/Sandwich, MA, USA
  • Instituto de Robótica Industrial, Barcelona, Spain
  • Instituto Universitario de Automática e Informática Industrial, UPV, Valencia, Spain
  • Fraunhofer-Institut für Materialfluss und Logistik IML, Germany
  • Fraunhofer-Institut für Produktionstechnik und Automatisierung IPA, Germany
  • Robotic, Perception, and Real Time Group , University of Zaragoza, Spain
  • Robotic Intelegence Lab, University Jaume I, Spain
AWARDS

This competition will be supported by the ASTI Foundation (www.asti.es ). All participants will receive the “IROS2018 ASTI-UAH Industrial Robot Obstacle Race Competition” participation diploma. The winner of the phase II competition will receive a monetary award. Additional sponsors will be sought to support the challenge.

LOGISTICS & LOCAL SUPPORT
  • A free rectangle space of 22×8 meters will be needed. A free height of 2 meters will be enough.
  • AGVs will be provided by ASTI
  • The obstacles will be provided by ASTI and UAH.
ORGANIZERS AND CONTACT

Jesús Enrique Sierra García

Affiliation: ASTI (www.asti.es)

City and Country: Burgos (Spain)

e-mail: enriquesg@asti.es

CV: Jesús Enrique Sierra Garcia (male) has degrees in Electronics Engineering, Telecommunications Engineering, Control Engineering and one MBA.

His professional experience includes more than 10 years working as researcher and software & hardware engineer in several companies like Telefonica R&D, MLS, Digital Training, Coritel, RYME and the Spanish Research Council. In 2013 he decided to join ASTI’s team to be part of the research and development department. Where he is currently the head of Technology Development Team. This team is exploring, and integrating new technologies to improve the platform of intra‐logistics solutions.

In parallel he is building his academic career as lecturer in the University of Burgos in the area of Languages and Computer Systems. His research interest includes robotics, modelling, intelligent control and soft computing techniques.

He belongs to the organization committee of the ASTI Robotics Challenge, a competition to promote the development of STEM talent and the research on mobile robotics. In the edition of 2017 this competition attracted a wide media attention and more than 20 teams from different points of Spain.

Felipe Espinosa

Affiliation: University of Alcala. (www.uah.es)

City and Country: Alcala de Henares (Spain)

e-mail: felipe.espinosa@uah.es

CV: Felipe Espinosa received the M.S. degree from the Polytechnic University of Madrid, Spain, and the Ph.D. degree from the University of Alcala (UAH), in Telecommunication, in 1991 and 1999 respectively.

He became a Full Professor in 2016 in the Electronics Department with the UAH, regularly involved in electronic control and automation subjects in several Post-Degree programmes. His current research interests include network control systems, event-based control, wireless network systems and sensorial integration applied to intelligent transportation systems and intelligent environments.

He co-organized the Track 4 (Indoor Mobile Robot Positioning) at the International Conference on Indoor Positioning and Indoor Navigation 2016.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Technical requirements:

The robot R1 will provide to the competitors:

  • 24 Voltage for power supply (terminal strip)
  • Canbus interface (db9 female connector, pin2: CanLow, pin3: gnd, pin7: CanHigh). The communication protocol will be published in an additional technical note.
  • Ethernet cable to communicate with a lidar LMS100