Sumo: Network Controlled, 3kg Class
Google is sponsoring a new class of Sumo robots. To keep things fair, these robots must not be autonomous. All movement must be controlled by the remote operator. Consider the robot to be a dumb terminal that responds to drive commands.
For safety and to better define the no-autonomy rule, if a robot does not receive a new command within 2 seconds, it must come to a complete stop and indicate that it has lost connectivity (e.g. via a blinking red light). This requirement will be tested by disconnecting the robots network connection while it is receiving drive commands.
Robots in this class must be remote controlled via WiFi. In an effort to simulate the environment of a home robot, certain conditions are enforced:
- the operator and the robot will have open connections to the Internet, and
- direct connections to and from the robot to the operator are prevented by the network configuration.
- have public IP addresses,
- be WPA2 PSK secured,
- and have UPnP disabled.
First: $1500
Second: $750
Third: $250
Google is also sponsoring additional prize money for the Best in Show award.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Will some ports be blocked by firewall or other means? If so, must this be determined on site?
A: All outgoing ports will remain open. However, there will be no port forwarding or port triggering configured and UPnP will be disabled. In addition, contestants are not allowed to configure port forwarding, port triggering, nor UPnP.
Q: Can the robot be controlled via a website? How about Telnet or XMPP?
A: All of these are perfectly valid methods of controlling the robot. Just be sure to keep in mind the network restrictions.
Q: With respect to the lost connectivity cutoff, are heartbeat or keep-alive commands allowed?
A: Yes.
Q: What sort of latency should we expect?
A: This depends on many uncontrollable factors. Assume the experience will be similar to a home user with a cable connection.
Q: What exactly do you mean by "non-autonomous?"
A: Unfortunately, autonomy is hard to define. However, we believe that the spirit of the rule is easily understood. Processing sensor data onboard the robot is OK, making decisions is not.
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