THE 19th ALL JAPAN MICROMOUSE CONTEST
THE 18th ALL JAPAN MICROMOUSE CONTEST by New Technology Foundation 1. Time : November 21 (Sat) 〜 23 (Mon), 1998 2. Place : Science Museum 2-1, Kitanomaru-koen(Park), Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 102 JAPAN 3. Time schedule of the Contest: ・November 21(Sat) 9:00〜10:00 Registration 10:15〜 Opening ceremony 10:30〜 Robotrace contest 15:30〜 Micro Clipper Contest ・November 22(Sun) 9:00〜10:00 Registration 10:30〜 Micromouse Contest(Freshman class) Micromouse Contest(Preliminary race, Expert class) ・November 23(Mon) 9:30〜10:00 Registration 10:30〜 Micromouse Contest(Final, Expert Class) 16:00〜 Awarding and Closing ceremony 4. Rule of Competition :1998 Japanese Rule 5. Judging Committee : ・Shin'ichi Yuta(Chairman,Professor,Tukuba University) ・Chie Kasuga(Professor,Shibaura Institute of Technology) ・Jun'ichi Iijima ・Jun'ichi Takeno (Professor,Meiji University) ・Hideki Hashimoto(Professor,the University of Tokyo) ・Hirofumi Tashiro(Deputy Secretary General,New Technology Foundation) 6. Commendation: Micromouse Contest(Expert class) Twelve prizes with memorial goods will be awarded in each of the categories. First prize: Certificate,Trophy,\200,000 Second prize: Certificate,Trophy,\100,000 Third prize: Certificate,Trophy,\ 50,000 Fourth prize: Certificate,Trophy,\ 30,000 Fifth prize: Certificate,Trophy,\ 20,000 Sixth prize: Certificate,Trophy,\ 10,000 European Rule prize: Certificate,\ 50,000 ・This prize is to be awarded to the result in case that the European Rule is applied provisionally to the performance on the maze. Autonomy Prize: Certificate,Trophy,\ 20,000 Search Prize: Certificate,Trophy N.T.F. prize: Certificate,Trophy Superior prize: Certificate,Trophy ・This prize is to be awarded to high school student. NAMCO prize: Certificate Special prize: Certificate Reference: Certificate of participation is given to all contestants. 7. Welcoming party will be held at 6:00pm on November 22 in the Science Museum. Notes; 1. Micromouse Freshman Class/Expert Class Micromouse Freshman Class This is a micromouse contest for beginners who have recently joined the program. Anyone who considers himself/herself a beginner can participate in this contest. However, if during the contest the judges determine that the mouse should be entered in the Expert Class, the mouse may be deemed ineligible to win. (Some of the micromice entered in the freshman class are advanced enough to enter the expert class. In such cases, we recommend that you take the challenge and enter the expert class.) Micromouse Expert Class This is the main event in the micromouse contest. Both preliminary and final contests will be held. Contestants who pass the preliminary stage (18 mice, in principle) and participants who have been seeded in each district in accordance with their previous results (champions in local contests in Japan, in principle) will be eligible to enter the final contest. For the final contest, each mouse builder is allowed to enter only one mouse, while a group is allowed to enter only one mouse as well, unless the individual mouse builder or the group enters mice that are technically dissimilar. In addition, each operator (the person who built the mouse must operate it, in principle) is allowed to operate only one mouse in the final contest. During the final contest, each participant is allotted seven minutes and can make up to five runs. (the preliminary stage of Micromouse Expert Class and Micromouse Freshman Class, each participant is allotted ten minutes and can make up to five runs.) 2.Robot registration In the past, the principle of one entry per builder(operator) had only been applied to the final round of the expert class in the micromouse contest. However, the principle of one entry per builder(operator) is now also to be applied to the freshman class, the robotrace, and the micro clipper contest all except the preliminary contest in the expert class in order to increase the quality of robots entered and in response to an increase in the number of participants. 3. For the freshman class of the micromouse contest, robotorace, or micro clipper contest, if robots produced by a single group are highly similar technologically, only the most superior robot will be eligible to win a prize. 4. Some spectators take photographs or videotape the contest (camera flashes are prohibited during the contest). Infrared rays are often used in the automatic focusing function of cameras and video cameras, and each robot is expected to be able to handle this exposure on its own. 5. (Robotrace) The course of the robotrace will not be disclosed in advance. The surface of the course is wooden, painted matte black. White vinyl tape is used to mark the lines. The field will be made as level as possible. After crossing the goal line, a robot must stop for at least two seconds at the start-goal area. Following each run, the robot must stop for at least for two seconds and then start again automatically or after adjustment.
Revisions to contest rules (Changes to the previous year's Japanese rules) Micromouse * Although it was specified in the rules that after the maze is disclosed, the operator is not to feed any information regarding the maze into the micromouse, there were a few suspicious cases. Therefore, it will now be clearly indicated that revising, inputting maze-related information using a switch, etc., after the micromouse is no longer able to run, or eliminating such information selectively (partially) is prohibited. [Rules: old 3-2 to new 3-2] * The start area is considered to be a special area in the maze, and if a micromouse returns to the start area, it is assumed that the run has been completed at that point. Therefore, the next run is assumed to be the second run, and the operator is free to touch the micromouse until the next run begins, regardless of the specified stopping time. However, it is difficult to automatically restart at once in all of the micromouse contests, and the micromouse must first stop for at least two seconds at the start area before beginning the next run. If the micromouse begins to run again without waiting at least two seconds after returning to the start area, it will be assumed that the next run has begun in accordance with the above specifications, but the run shall be considered invalid. [Rules: old 3-3 to new 3-3, 3-4, new note: (3) added] * In order to be allowed to touch the micromouse expect the start area, it was previously required that the micromouse stops for at least three seconds. However, this will be revised to at least two seconds, to coincide with the rule that the micromouse must stop for at least two seconds before beginning its next run automatically. [Rules: old 3-4 to new 3-5] Robotrace * Although the Robotracer was previously required to stop for at least three seconds at the start/goal area, the time required will be revised to at least two seconds. [Rules: old 3-5 to new 3-5] * If the Robotracer continues to run without stopping at the start/goal area, the next run will not be considered to have begun. Therefore, the run must be stopped, and the next run must be restarted from the start/goal area. (For example, if the micromouse does not stop at the start/goal area and continues on its first run, the first run shall be considered invalid. The run in the second circle will also be considered invalid (the second run does not become disqualified at this point). The continuing run must be stopped, and the second run must be started anew from the start/goal area.) [Rules: old note: (2), new note: (2) ] * In order to avoid giving the mistaken impression that the course consists of arcs and straight lines connected in turn, it will be clarified that arcs with different curvatures may be connected on a continuous basis. Also, an S-shaped drawing will be used in Fig. 7. In addition, each arc is to have a radius of at least 30cm, although only arcs with a radius of either 30cm or 60cm were used in previous years' contests. (Example. Fig. 7) [Rules: new note: (3) added] ---------------------------------------------------------------- New Technology Foundation MICROMOUSE Committee Isomura Building 1-1-3, Toranomon, Minato-Ku, Tokyo, 105-0001 Japan Tel 81-3-3504-1323, Fax 81-3-3504-1310 Mail:KYD02036@nifty.ne.jp http://www.bekkoame.ne.jp/~ntf/mouse/mouse.html ----------------------------------------------------------------
