Mars Manoeuvre

Introduction

After a spectacular success of Phoenix Mars Lander’s Space expedition, various methods are being
evolved and identified to make it a bigger success the next time. Various space research
organizations are planning to send out a multi robot system such that a desired collective
behaviour emerges from the interactions between the robots and interactions of robots with the
environment.

With flavours of Mechanical Challenges and Swarm Intelligence, Mars Manoeuvre introduces you
to a completely new challenge of a manned spacecraft mission. The Space craft has to overcome
the harsh terrain of Mars and successfully land the autonomous family of swarm bots on the
planet to retrieve small rock samples back to the space ship in a specified order so that the
collection can be organized. In the competition, the rocks are modelled as blocks.

The purpose of collecting rock is to discover if life ever existed on mars. If it did, the life cycle of
mars may be used to learn important information for us here on earth.

Get ready with your Shuttle crew and start planning for an exciting Mission to Mars. The destiny
of future life is in your hand...

Problem Statement
Build manual and autonomous machines which cooperate and collaborate to bring back blocks
placed randomly on a grid.

After starting, manual robot can assist the autonomous robot(s) from the starting square past the
hazards into the 1-Block zone. From there the autonomous robot(s) must find and deposit the
blocks to the 1-Block zone, from where the manual robot will pick up and store the blocks. When
all the blocks have been collected, the manual robot can again assist the autonomous robots back
to the starting square. When they are all back the run is finished.

Arena
1) Central Zone: Coloured black in figure 2.
This zone will consist of a 6 x 6 squares grid of white lines on a black surface. The lines will be
equally spaced. Each cell of the grid will be a square with inner dimensions 220 mm x 220 mm (See
figure 1). The thickness of each white line is 30 mm.
2) 1-Block Zone: Coloured blue in figure 2.
The white line between the 1-Block zone and the Central zone is considered to be part of the 1-
Block Zone.
3) Arena Wall hazard will consist of a wooden wall of thickness 36 mm and height 100 mm from the
arena surface (See figure 1).
4) The Circular Bump hazards will have a diameter of 50 mm and length 900 mm. There will be 2 such
bumps and they will be separated by a distance of 50 mm between them.
5) It will have a diameter of 50 mm and length 1800 mm. There will be 2 such bumps and will be
separated by a distance of 50 mm between them, edge to edge(i.e. 100 mm centre to centre).
6) Starting Zone: Coloured Yellow in figure 2.
At the start of each run, the manual as well as the autonomous bot must be placed within this
square of 500 mm x 500 mm(l x b).
7) A “Block” is a 100 mm x 100 mm x 100 mm. There will be 2 types of blocks, 2 of each type, with 4
blocks in total.
Block A - The colour of the block will be white.2 such blocks will be placed randomly in the grid
(see figure 3).
Block B – Each of its 4 vertical faces will be divided into 2 equal halves. The colour of the upper
half will be black. The colour of the lower half will be white. Its 2 flat faces will be white.2 such
blocks will be placed randomly in the grid (see figure 4).
The block is made of non-magnetic material and will have a maximum weight of60 gms. The
pictures of the block are given below.Each block will be placed such that it coincides with the
centre point of a grid intersection as closely as possible. The blocks will be placed randomly in the
central zone. This results in 42 possible block locations.
8) Spot Zones A and B: It has a dimension of 200 mm x 200 mm. After restarts for autonomous
machine A and B respectively, they will be placed in their respective spot zones.
9) The dimensions of the arena would be accurate to within 5% or 20 mm, whichever is less.
Assembly joints on the arena floor will not involve steps greater than 0.5 mm.
10) The actual arena will be similar to figure 1. Figure 2 has been coloured just to specify the various
zones.
Figure 1: 3d Arena

Figure 2: Arena with zones

 Figure 3: Block AFigure 4: Block B

Machine Specifications

 Dimensions and Fabrication

During the start of the run,both the autonomous as well as the manual machine must fit within
the starting zone having dimensions500 mm x 500 mm(l x b).

Manual machine

1) 1 manual machine per team is allowed.

2) During the start of the run the manual machine must fit within a square of 500 mm x 500 mm (l x
b).
3) The machine must be stable and must stand on its own at the beginning of the race when put in
the start zone. Machines not fulfilling this criterion will be disqualified.
4) The external wired remote control used to control the machine is not included in this size
constraint.
5) The onboard power supply on the machine must fit within this size constraint.
6) Manual machine cannot be constructed using readymade Lego kits or any readymade mechanism.
But you can make use of readymade gear assemblies. Violating this clause will lead to the
disqualification of the team.

Autonomous machine

1) Maximum 2 autonomous machines per team are allowed. A team may enter with only 1
autonomous machine. However, each run must use the same number of autonomous machines.
2) Each autonomous machine brought in by the team must be clearly labelled with the team name
and with 'A' & 'B' for the two autonomous machines or with ‘A’ for one autonomous machine. The
organizers must be able to clearly distinguish between each of the machines brought in by a team.
3) Each autonomous machine must fit within a square of dimensions 200mm x 200mm (l x b).
4) The autonomous machine must be stable and must stand on its own at the beginning of the race
when put in the start zone. Machines not fulfilling this criterion will be disqualified.
5) During the run, the autonomous machine can expand itself provided it does not damage the arena
in anyway. However, it is not allowed to leave anything behind or make any marks while traversing
the grid. All machines found damaging the arena will be immediately disqualified. The final
decision is at the discretion of the judges.
6) The autonomous machine should not separate or split into two or more units.
7) It should be completely autonomous.
8) The methods of collection and delivery of the blocks are at the discretion of the builder. But use of
ready-made mechanical kits is not allowed.
9) The teams are allowed to use ready-made wireless modules/ready-made micro-controller
boards/ready-made sensor kits.

 Power Supply and Propulsion

1) The machines have to use an on-board power supply. No external power supply will be allowed.
2) Each team shall bring its own power supply for all its machines.
3) The potential difference between any two points on any of the machines must not exceed 24 V
DC.
4) In case the machine is using a non-electric power supply, kindly get it approved from the
organizers beforehand via email. Organizers are not responsible for inconvenience if approval is
not sought.

 Controls

1) The autonomous machine should not receive any input from outside the arena. They are however
encouraged to communicate wirelessly with the other autonomous machine in the arena for
cooperative benefits.
2) The manual machine should not receive any wireless input from outside the arena. It can be
controlled using a wired remote control.
3) No wireless communication between autonomous and manual machine is allowed. The team is
responsible for proving this to the Judges.

Rules

 Game Rules

1) The maximum time given for completing the task is 6 minutes. Maximum of two runs will be given
to a team (Best score from the 2 runs will be considered as the team’s score).
2) At the start of the task the manual machine as well as autonomous machine will be placed in the
starting zone. Only 1 member from the team is allowed to be near the game field while starting
the machine.
3) The manualmachine must be started by only 1 switch. The starting procedure of the machine
should be simple and should not involve giving machine any manual force or impulse in any
direction.
4) Each team is allowed a maximum of threerestartsfor the manual machine. All restarts require the
approval of the presiding Judges before the manual machine can be handled by the team.During a
restart timer will not be set back to zero
5) During a restart for the manual machine, the manual machine will have to be restarted by putting
it back to the starting zone. Any autonomous machine in contact with the manual machine should
also be put back to the starting zone along with the manual machine. The team can also opt for
the autonomous machine already transferred to the other side of the wall to be put back to the
starting zone along with the manual machine.
6) During restart for the manual machine, a contestant cannot feed information about the grid to the
autonomous machine. However, contestants are allowed to: Adjust position, Change speed
settings and Make repairs. However, a contestant may not alter a machine in a manner that alters
its weight (e.g. removal of a bulky sensor array or switching to lighter batteries to get better
speed). The judges shall arbitrate. The points earned by the team till that time will be retained.
7) For each restart for the manual machine, the team will incur a penalty of 15 points.
8) No part of the manual machine at any point of time should cross the initial line(labelled in figure).
9) Any part of the mechanical machine which completely crosses the initial line is said to be crossing
the initial line. If any part of the machine is partially on the initial line, it won’t be considered to be
crossing the initial line.
10) The 1-block zone permits at most one block carrying machine inside it at a time.
Block carrying machine – Autonomous machine carrying a block.
11) An autonomous machine which is partially/completely over the 1-block zone, as defined in arena
specifications rule, is said to be in the 1-block zone.
12) For 2 autonomous machines ‘A’ and ‘B’, the machine A can carry only Block A in the 1-block zone
and the machine B can carry only Block B in the 1-block zone. Each time this rule is violated the
team will incur a penalty of 15 points.
13) If the team has only 1 autonomous machine ‘A’, the machine ‘A’ will have to bring blocks ‘A’ and
‘B’ alternatively in the 1-block zone. Each time this rule is violated the team will incur a penalty of
15 points.
14) If any part of the block is in contact with the autonomous machine, the autonomous machine is
said to carry that block.
15) During the run if any block gets displaced from its original location and lies somewhere else in the
central zone, it will be picked up and put back to any other random grid point.
16) Each team is allowed a maximum of fiverestartsfor the autonomous machine(s).
17) If at any point of time, the machine does not move from its position or travels out of the grid, the
team can opt for a restart. The team will incur a penalty of 15 points.
18) During a restart for a particular autonomous machine, theautonomous machine will have to be
restarted by putting it back in the respective Spot Zone (autonomous machine A will be placed in
Spot Zone A while autonomous machine B will be placed in Spot Zone B). The team can also opt
for restarting both the autonomous machines (this will be counted as a single restart). In this case
both the machines will have to be restarted by putting it back in the respective Spot
 Zones(autonomous machine A will be placed in Spot Zone A and autonomous machine B will be
placed in Spot Zone B).
19) For a restart, the machine will have to be in Power Off mode. And turned on again in the spot
zones on the signal of the judges. In a restart, the timer will not be set back to zero.
20) During restarts for autonomous machine(s), a contestant cannot feed information about the grid
to the machine. However, contestants are allowed to: Adjust sensors (Gain, Position etc.), Change
speed settings and Make repairs. However, a contestant may not alter a machine in a manner that
alters its weight (e.g. removal of a bulky sensor array or switching to lighter batteries to get better
speed). The judges shall arbitrate. The points earned by the team till that time will be retained.
21) All restarts for autonomous machine(s) require the approval of the presiding Judges before the
machine(s) can be removed from the arena. Any boxes the machine(s) maybe handling will be kept
back at random position on the grid. If the robots were handled within the arena without
approval, the run will be terminated.
22) Team members will not be allowed to handle the blocks. Only officials are allowed to handle the
blocks in any situation (e.g. to clear the area, etc.)
23) Participants are not allowed to keep anything inside the arena other than the manual machine and
autonomous machines.
24) The contest judges may stop any robot at any time if they feel that it is performing, or is about to
perform, any action that is dangerous or hazardous to people or equipment. No robot is allowed
to use any flammable, combustible, explosive or potentially dangerous processes.

Penalties

1) For each restart for the manual machine, a penalty of 15 points is awarded.
2) If twoblock carrying machines (as defined in rule 10, these are the 2 autonomous block carrying
machines) are found to be in the 1-block zone at the same time any block they may be carrying
will be removed and placed on any random grid point. A penalty of 15 points is awarded. This will
constitute a restart.
3) For teams with 2 autonomous machines, if the machine ‘A’ is found carrying Block B in the 1-block
zone, the block will be removed and placed on any random grid point. A penalty of 15 points is
awarded. This will constitute a restart (as per rule 18).
4) For teams with 2 autonomous machines, if the machine ‘B’ is found carrying Block A in the 1-block
zone, the block will be removed and placed on any random grid point. A penalty of 15 points is
awarded. This will constitute a restart (as per rule 18).
5) For teams with 1 autonomous machine, if the block carried by the autonomous machine is found
to enter the 1-block zone out of turn, then the block will be removed and put back to any random
grid point. A penalty of 15 points is awarded. This will constitute a restart (as per rule 18).
6) If at any point of time, the machine does not move from its position or travels out of the grid, the
team can opt for a restart (as per rule 18). A penalty of 15 points is awarded.
7) For violating any of these clauses, a penalty of 10 points will be awarded, and the teams must
restart (as per rule 18):
 In the central zone, a block can be touched by only 1 autonomous machine at a time, not by 2
autonomous machines or another block. If found doing so, the block(s) will be kept back on the
arena at some random location
 An autonomous machine can not touch more than one block at a time. If found doing so, the
blocks that the erring machine was carrying will be kept back on the central zone at its original
location
 The autonomous machines can not touch each other. If found doing so, the block(s) that the erring
machines may be carrying will be kept back at any random grid point. And both the autonomous
machines will be restarted.

Scoring

1) The competition time for each team starts from the moment the judges give the signal to start.
2) The run is considered finished when the manual machine, the autonomous machines, and all the 4
blocks return back to the starting zone.
3) A block is successfully deposited if it is entirely inside the manual zone. A successfully deposited
block earns 75 points.The Wall hazard is not a part of the manual zone. Any block in contact with
the wall hazard won’t be considered as deposited.
4) The team’s score will be equal to:
(360-T) + (75*N) – P
Where,
T is the total time taken to complete the entire task in seconds or T equals 360 if the team is
unable to complete the entire task.
N is the number of blocks successfully deposited.
P is equal to the penalties awarded.

Judging Criteria

 Judging Criterion

The teams score will be equal to:

(360-T) + (75*N) – P
Where,
T is the total time taken to complete the entire task in seconds or T equals 360 if the team is
unable to complete the entire task.
N is the number of blocks successfully deposited.
P is equal to the penalties awarded.

The winners will be decided by the better of these scores for the total run.

In case of a tie, a rerun will be given to the respective teams.

 In case the scores match again, then the team, which will take the lowest time to deposit the first
block in the rerun,will be declared as the winners.

 Certificate Policy

For iNexus participants: to be held at respective iNexus centres

The top 3 teams emerging from this competition will be awarded a Certificate of Excellence.
Teams which deposit at least one block will be awarded a Certificate of Participation.

For general participants (including Open entries & Nexus winners): to be held during Techfest

The top 3 teams emerging from this competition will be awarded a Certificate of Excellence.
Teams which deposit at least one block will be awarded a Certificate of Participation.

 Team Specification

A team may consist of (a maximum of) 6 participants. Students from different educational
institutes can form a team.

 Eligibility

All students with a valid identity card of their respective educational institutes are eligible to
participate in Mars Manoeuvre.