1 Robot Racers Senior Project Doran Wilde and James Archibald 8 January 2013

2 The Competition Program autonomous vehicles to play capture the flag without human intervention. Experience the thrill of victory, or the agony of defeat!

3 Robot Soccer Finals 2004: WSC Garden Court Goal: attract a crowd!

4 History This is seventh year of robot racers. –2006: garden hose course –2007: –2008: pylon course –2009: pylon course –2010: laser tag / capture the flag –2011: laser tag / capture the flag –2012: laser tag / capture the flag Websites of past teams are available. –Search them for ideas, code, experiences. infrastructure

5 Base Equipment Standard RC monster truck On-board camera, custom FPGA board Virtex-4 has 2 PowerPCs on chip Wireless link to remote basestation for e-stop, debugging

6 Laser-tag Kit Game module includes: –CPU –LEDs (to reflect state) –Sensors (to detect shot) –LED + lens (to shoot) –Speaker –Comm. link to other game modules

7 Game Rules (2012) Shot types (encoded in signal): –KILL, REVIVE, PASS Player states: –ALIVE, ALIVE WITH FLAG, DISABLED Each team has fixed base that holds its flag at outset.

8 Game Rules (2012) Successful KILL shot disables opponent and takes away flag (if held). Disabled vehicle can move, but cannot shoot KILL shots or hold flag. Disabled player re-enabled by REVIVE shot from teammate or REVIVE shot to base. PASS shot gives flag to base or teammate. Win by moving opponent flag to your base.

9 Fundamental Rules Starting play –Play begins with signal from official. –“Start” command entered on desktop. –“Start play” sent from base computer to vehicle. No direction from base allowed after start. –Sole exception: “emergency stop” from base. –No limits on what vehicle streams back for debugging, logging, etc.

10 Defining 2013 Competition Lots of options exist. Examples: –Could have all 4 teams competing at same time infrastructure supports this –Could pair up: 2 teams with 2 vehicles each teamwork strategy –Could include obstacles possible for vehicles to hide location, navigation become critical Be creative, but achieve basic functionality first!

11 Technical Knowledge Required Feedback control Computer vision Programming Real-time software VHDL design for FPGAs System design, testing, and debugging

12 Prerequisites Feedback control Computer vision Programming Real-time software VHDL design for FPGAs System design, testing, and debugging ECEn 483 ECEn 425 ECEn 427 CS classes

13 Teams This year: 4 teams, 5 students each Essential: –Every team has ECEn 483, 427 background –Every participant has good programming skills Baseline: all on team get same grade –Sink or swim together: must work as a team –Possible exception: lower grades for slackers We form teams TODAY

14 Design Reviews Held monthly, your team only –Content of business lectures big help here –Pay attention to review criteria!

15 Grading 25% - Project management assignments –Handled by Doug Clifford 25% - Meeting milestones in timely way –Both team and group assignments 25% - Design reviews –Both presentation and web report 25% - Demonstrated performance –In practice and final competitions

16 Commitment From BYU catalog: “The expectation for undergraduate courses is 3 hours of work per week per credit hour for the average student who is appropriately prepared; much more time may be required to achieve excellence.” This project is simply not doable on your own; it requires a committed team. –With 5 individuals each working 15 hours/week, you can accomplish a great deal. –If you can’t commit to this, you are being unfair to teammates. –Find a way to contribute your fair share to the team.

17 Rewards Confidence in your engineering abilities. Experience with interesting technology. A substantive team experience. Preparation for related research and study.

18 Teamwork Mostly ignored in engineering curriculum, but very important in real world. How can you make your team successful? –Clear team organization, responsibilities –Regular meetings, good communication –Individual commitment to excellence

19 Team Specialists Leader and magician Control guru and resident genius Navigator and mystical guide Vision expert and oracle Communication lord and poet laureate Hardware and embedded system wizard GUI artist and master programmer Game AI strategist and algorithmist Golf pro (optional)

20 Teamwork II The larger the team, the more critical the role of the leader in coordinating efforts. Team requirement: weekly report via to Dr. Archibald every Friday with –Team status and progress –Individual status and progress (confidential) Pick capable leader with appropriate skills! –Your responsibility to keep leader up-to-date

21 Assignment Before Thursday, team leader sends to Drs. Wilde and Archibald with: –team name –information about each team member: name address Route Y id specializations

22 Questions?

23 Let’s form teams. Hard constraint: must include –Control expert (483) – at least one –VHDL/FPGA expert (427) – preferably two