Competition Overview¶
Robotics and AI is revolutionizing the what and how we work today and will continue in the future. Today, robots are augmenting the capability of human workers in various industries: logistics, healthcare, agriculture, etc.
The PARC Engineers league tasks participants to reimagine how humans can augment the capabilities of intelligent robots in a task of growing prevalence - autonomous parcel delivery.
The challenge of the competition is to build software to operate a wheeled mobile robot to complete a delivery task including: navigating through a sidewalk, crossing the road using a crosswalk and navigating in a park to find the drop location.
This competition would consist two phases: a simulation phase and a physical robot phase.
Simulation Phase¶
In this phase, teams would interact with the delivery robot in simulation (using the Gazebo Robot Simulator). Participants are required to write software to complete three crucial tasks for the operation of a delivery robot:
- Sidewalk following (with obstacle avoidance)
- Traffic sign detection and recognition
- Go-to-goal navigation (with obstacle avoidance)
Participating teams will follow the instructions in this documentation to set up their PCs and download the complete simulation packages required to complete the tasks. Teams are required to complete and upload their solutions on or before the Phase 1 deadline. Following team evaluations, teams with the best solutions will qualify to compete in Phase 2.
Physical Robot Phase¶
In this phase, the qualified teams get a chance to refine and deploy their software on the physical robot "Turtlebot 3 Burger" to compete on the main competition day. First, a complete simulation of the competition environment would be provided to teams to integrate and their solutions from Phase 1. The task here is to operate the delivery robot to complete a delivery by moving from parcel pickup location to the drop-off location.
Once satisfactory results are achieved in simulation, participants would be allowed to test their software on the physical robot virtually by reserving time on our booking calendar [to be provided]. To be allowed to compete on the final competition, teams must submit a report (including videos of their fully functional solution in simulation) and upload their code for review.
How to Register¶
Prospective teams are required to complete an online application.
Important Dates¶
| Event | Date |
|---|---|
| Registration Deadline | March 28th 2022 |
| Phase 1 Submission Deadline | May 16th 2022 |
| Phase 2 Qualification Announcement | May 22nd 2022 |
| Phase 2 Kick-Off | May 23th 2022 |
| Phase 2 Testing Period | May 24th-July 15th 2022 |
| Final Competition Days | July 2022 |