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Robotics with the Boe-Bot
conditions. The maze is a classical two-dimensional proper maze: there is a single path
from the start to the finish and there are no islands in the maze. Both the entrance and exit
are located on outside walls. Proper mazes can be solved by following either the left wall
or the right wall. The maze is carefully designed so that there is no advantage if you
follow the left wall or the right wall.
Robot Limitations
The main limit on the robot is that it be autonomous: once started by the owner or
handler, no interaction is allowed until the robot emerges from the exit, or it becomes
hopelessly stuck. Obviously the robot needs to be small enough to fit within the walls of
the maze. It may touch the walls, but may not move the walls to its advantage -no
bulldozers. The judges may disqualify a robot which appears to be moving the walls
excessively. The robot must not damage either the walls of the maze, nor the floor. Any
form of power is allowed as long as local laws do not require hearing protection in its
presence or place any other limitations on it.
Scoring
Each robot is to be run through the maze three times. The robot with the lowest single
time is the winner. The maximum time allowed per run is 10 minutes. If a robot cannot
finish in that amount of time, the run is stopped and the robot receives a time of 10
minutes. If no robot succeeds in finding the exit of the maze, the one that made it the
farthest will be declared the winner, as determined by the contest's judge.
Logistics
Each robot will make one run, proceeding until all robots have attempted the maze. Each
robot then does a second run through the maze, then the robots all do the third run. The
judge will allow some discretion if a contestant must delay their run due to technical
difficulties. A robot may remember what it found on a previous run to try to improve its
time (mapping the maze on the first run), and can use this information in subsequent
runs-as long as the robot does this itself. It is not allowed to manually "configure" the
robot through hardware or software as to the layout of the maze.
