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mnemocron/Rulebook for Vacuum Robot Games.md

Last active May 5, 2025 10:57
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Rulebook for Vacuum Robot Games.md

Disciplines

Remotely operated

  • Obstacle Race: The operator drives the robot across an obstacle course, best time wins.
  • Gladiator Deathmatch: Robots are equipped with a needle at the front and air baloons as targets at the back. Robots then compete against each other to pop the baloons. Last robot standing wins. blogpost
  • Doomshooter: Robots must blow over paper targets using the air vacuum vented air. blogpost
  • Cleanup: Use the vacuum to actually cleanup a mess on the floor, best time wins.

Autonomous

  • Labyrinth Race: Roomba autonomously finds its way out of a labyrinth, best time wins.
  • Line Follower Race: Robot must follow a line on the floor, best time wins.
  • Firefighter: A variation of the labyrinth race. The robot must autonomously find a candle inside a maze and extinguish it.

The following rules are loosely based on the Robot Fighting League Standard Ruleset - minus most of the fighting and weapons regulations.

Rules

1. General

2. Construction

  • The robot must be based on a SCI compatible iRobot Roomba (4000, 500, 600 series) machine.
  • The total weight of a robot must not exceed * kg.

3. Robot Control Requirements

  • Robots must be remotely controlled.
  • Tethered control is not allowed.
  • It is understood that wireless technologies adhere to local laws and restrictions (BAKOM). Commercial and hobby protocolls such as Wifi, Bluetooth, 2.4GHz are allowed.
  • All robots MUST use a radio system with digitally coded, mated pairs between transmitter and receiver. This means that no other transmitter, operating on the same frequency, can communicate with your receiver, and your transmitter cannot send signals to any receiver other than your own.

4. Autonomous/Semi-Autonomous Robots

  • Robots may use the internal sensors.
  • Robots may use additional sensors attached to the outside of the robot. Custom sensors may not protrude more than 5cm off the robots edge.
  • Autonomous robots must be fully autonomous. Use of a radio-control device for failsafe is allowed but it must provide NO OTHER FUNCTION than a failsafe signal.
    • Robots are started and stopped by use of the above failsafe.
    • Robots must stop motion and weapons when failsafe is activated, for safe removal from arena.

5. Batteries and Power

  • Only the internal battery is allowed as a power source for all custom electronics. No additional power sources are allowed.

6. Actuators

  • No weapons are allowed. A weapon is defined as any modification with the intent of harming or destroying other robots or arena.
  • Actuators must not protrude more than 20cm off the robots edge when activated or fully extended.
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