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Robot RacersSenior Project

Doran Wilde and James Archibald8 January 2013

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The Competition

• Program autonomous vehicles to play capture the flag without human intervention.

• Experience the thrill of victory, or the agony of defeat!

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Robot Soccer Finals 2004: WSC Garden CourtGoal: attract a crowd!

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History• This is seventh year of robot racers.

– 2006: garden hose course– 2007: <hiatus for DARPA urban challenge>– 2008: pylon course– 2009: pylon course– 2010: laser tag / capture the flag– 2011: laser tag / capture the flag– 2012: laser tag / capture the flag

• Websites of past teams are available. – Search them for ideas, code, experiences.

infrastructure

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Base Equipment

• Standard RC monster truck

• On-board camera, custom FPGA board

• Virtex-4 has 2 PowerPCs on chip

• Wireless link to remote basestation for e-stop, debugging

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Laser-tag Kit

• Game module includes:– CPU – LEDs (to reflect state)– Sensors (to detect shot)– LED + lens (to shoot)– Speaker– Comm. link to other

game modules

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Game Rules (2012)

• Shot types (encoded in signal): – KILL, REVIVE, PASS

• Player states:– ALIVE, ALIVE WITH FLAG, DISABLED

• Each team has fixed base that holds its flag at outset.

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Game Rules (2012)

• Successful KILL shot disables opponent and takes away flag (if held).

• Disabled vehicle can move, but cannot shoot KILL shots or hold flag.

• Disabled player re-enabled by REVIVE shot from teammate or REVIVE shot to base.

• PASS shot gives flag to base or teammate.• Win by moving opponent flag to your base.

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Fundamental Rules

• Starting play– Play begins with signal from official.– “Start” command entered on desktop. – “Start play” sent from base computer to vehicle.

• No direction from base allowed after start.– Sole exception: “emergency stop” from base. – No limits on what vehicle streams back for

debugging, logging, etc.

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Defining 2013 Competition

• Lots of options exist. Examples:– Could have all 4 teams competing at same time

• infrastructure supports this– Could pair up: 2 teams with 2 vehicles each

• teamwork strategy – Could include obstacles

• possible for vehicles to hide• location, navigation become critical

• Be creative, but achieve basic functionality first!

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Technical Knowledge Required

• Feedback control• Computer vision• Programming• Real-time software• VHDL design for FPGAs• System design, testing, and

debugging

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Prerequisites

• Feedback control• Computer vision• Programming• Real-time software• VHDL design for FPGAs• System design, testing, and

debugging

ECEn 483

ECEn 425 ECEn 427

CS classes

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Teams• This year: 4 teams, 5 students each • Essential:

– Every team has ECEn 483, 427 background– Every participant has good programming skills

• Baseline: all on team get same grade– Sink or swim together: must work as a team– Possible exception: lower grades for slackers

• We form teams TODAY

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Design Reviews• Held monthly, your team only

– Content of business lectures big help here– Pay attention to review criteria!

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Grading• 25% - Project management assignments

– Handled by Doug Clifford• 25% - Meeting milestones in timely way

– Both team and group assignments• 25% - Design reviews

– Both presentation and web report • 25% - Demonstrated performance

– In practice and final competitions

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Commitment• From BYU catalog:

“The expectation for undergraduate courses is 3 hours of work per week per credit hour for the average student who is appropriately prepared; much more time may be required to achieve excellence.”

• This project is simply not doable on your own; it requires a committed team.

–With 5 individuals each working 15 hours/week, you can accomplish a great deal.

–If you can’t commit to this, you are being unfair to teammates.

–Find a way to contribute your fair share to the team.

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Rewards• Confidence in your

engineering abilities.• Experience with

interesting technology. • A substantive team

experience. • Preparation for related

research and study.

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Teamwork• Mostly ignored in engineering curriculum,

but very important in real world.• How can you make your team successful?

– Clear team organization, responsibilities – Regular meetings, good communication– Individual commitment to excellence

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Team Specialists

• Leader and magician• Control guru and resident genius• Navigator and mystical guide• Vision expert and oracle• Communication lord and poet laureate• Hardware and embedded system wizard• GUI artist and master programmer• Game AI strategist and algorithmist• Golf pro (optional)

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Teamwork II• The larger the team, the more critical the

role of the leader in coordinating efforts. • Team requirement: weekly report via email

to Dr. Archibald every Friday with– Team status and progress – Individual status and progress (confidential)

• Pick capable leader with appropriate skills!– Your responsibility to keep leader up-to-date

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Assignment• Before Thursday, team leader sends email

to Drs. Wilde and Archibald with:– team name– information about each team member:

• name• email address• Route Y id• specializations

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Questions?

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• Let’s form teams.• Hard constraint: must include

– Control expert (483) – at least one– VHDL/FPGA expert (427) – preferably two