[Dprglist] November Competition 2017

[Carl Ott]

Some feedback...

regarding:

Carl explained that his simulation defines a single move from the
entry-point of the square, to the exit-point of the square, or more
correctly, either the exit point of the current square to the exit point of
the next square, or the entry point of the current square to the entry
point of the next square.

sorry if I gave the wrong impression. Actually my approach treats the
outlines of the squares as noise - it tries to filter them out or ignore
them and follow "the real line"...

about:

the robot (a real physical one) does not actually have to follow curvature
of the line: It just has to move from entry points to exit points.


I've understood the rules interpretation to be that it counts if you enter
and exit the square with the line - although, it's not clear to me what
that means e.g. if you have a very large robot that is following the line,
but doesn't have an obvious part where 'this part of the robot has to stay
w/in xyz distance of the line'...

[image: Inline image 1]


For that reason, and others :) - I'm thinking that once I get physical - a
cool extension would be a gimbal with a laser pointer that can light up the
aim point...

about this

The first sentence says the robot follows a black line. I think the line
color change tile was added after that first sentence was written. In any
event, it's not always a black line.


giving the rules a little tech writing slack, it does mention this:

[image: Inline image 2]

Which is interesting...  This suggests that the course could be reformed
with any of those condition changes applied to any element.
At least I've been targeting an algorithm that would handle such variation
-
of course, somebody will have to conquer the course first before somebody
changes it...

- Carl



On Sat, Nov 11, 2017 at 5:21 PM, John Swindle <swindle at compuserve.com>
wrote:

> Folks:
>
> I enjoyed seeing the 6-can contest today, and seeing the work Carl and Ron
> are doing on the Challenge Level Line Following contest.
>
> Carl explained that his simulation defines a single move from the
> entry-point of the square, to the exit-point of the square, or more
> correctly, either the exit point of the current square to the exit point of
> the next square, or the entry point of the current square to the entry
> point of the next square.
>
> If that kind of movement of the robot is acceptable, then the robot (a
> real physical one) does not actually have to follow curvature of the line:
> It just has to move from entry points to exit points.
>
> So, since the LF course layout is a fixed pattern until someone wins, what
> about just doing odometry or sonar/LIDAR to the room's walls (to correct
> the odometry, like what Neato does, ignoring obstacles and only looking at
> walls), and follow the fixed pattern of the course layout using corrected
> odometry?
>
> Separately:
>
> If the specific contest rules don't mention "self-contained", then does
> that mean the robot can use external resources? Or is there a set of global
> rules for all contests, covering things like self-containment?
>
> And just a note: The first sentence of the LF rules state that there are
> three levels. Then the second sentence states that there are two levels
> (with a different name). (I do tech writing. I see these things. Especially
> when they are in adjacent sentences. Especially when they are the first two
> sentences that I read. Kinda like a JEDEC standard.) I suggest that the
> second sentence be deleted.
>
> And another item: The first sentence says the robot follows a black line.
> I think the line color change tile was added after that first sentence was
> written. In any event, it's not always a black line.
>
> Best to you all,
> John Swindle
>
>
>
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>
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