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Autonomous Vehicle Competition - April 17th, 2010

sku: CLS-09016

Description: The Autonomous Vehicle Competition was such a fun time, we're going to give it another go! Checkout the video recap  and the homepage post of last year's AVC. This year the competition will be held on a weekend! Bigger. Better. Faster!


Spectators are encouraged to come check out the fun! It's a great spring day full of hackery, tours, and if we're lucky a robot or two in the lake.

Rules:

• 1 Lap. Start line to be determined on race day. Shortest time wins.
• You get three attempts schedule throughout the day. Best time of the three laps will be used.
• Two classes: Ground / Air.
  
• Two $300 prizes: Goes to the fastest lap in each class.
  
• Be sure to chronicle your vehicle build! We'd love to feature your bot on our site as the race approaches.
  
• In-house SparkFun teams are not allowed to spend more than $300 on their vehicle, but the general public is simply encouraged to think 'lite'. You are welcome to find/re-use any parts you can find/get donated.
• No base stations allowed. All computation must be made from within the confines of the mobile platform (think DARPA).
  
• No environmental modifications allowed. For example, you cannot install IR LEDs around the building or put a 3" wide strip of tape on the asphalt
• Bots start separately. No mass start.
• We plan on an exhibition lap with a mass start just to see how it goes.

By purchasing this product you are purchasing an official entry to the day of competition. You are welcome to purchase an entry at any time, but last year we had a problem with people signing up and then 'not being able to make it'. We will have more team entries than spots available, so to prevent teams from signing up and then being unable to attend, we will require every official team to submit a video no later than April 1st showing their robot driving forward and making a turn. Nothing fancy. If an official team does not submit their video in time, they will forfeit their spot and the spot will be given to a team on the waiting list.

We know what it's like on demo day (nothing works), but bring whatever you've got!

Definition: "around the building" - bot must go around the external four main walls of the SparkFun building. You pick the course and direction. Most teams will probably be on the black top (asphalt) but the choice is yours. We will not be moving (real) parked cars, dumpsters, or snow ramps, but we will be stopping parking lot traffic.

Autonomous means your bot/car/plane/heli has to drive itself. You press the start button, three seconds later the robot begins navigation under its own control. There can be no human interaction. The car cannot receive any commands over any medium from a human operator. It is allowed to transmit debug information and receive any other signals (GPS, proximity, etc).

Rules are subject to change on a whim. It's mostly like last year, with more sparklers.

The SparkFun crew is pretty stoked. You are encouraged to form/create your own team. You are welcome to ask a SparkFun engineer anything you want - we're here to help.

If the weather decides not to cooperate (if it snows more than a few inches), we will move the competition indoors. Don't depend on GPS too heavily...

Prerequisites: None! Bring a robot.
Date: April 17th, 2010 (a few days after US Tax day)
Time: 10AM to around 3PM
Location: SparkFun