RoboColumbus – 2024

This year Dallas Personal Robotics Group (DPRG) will conduct two RoboColumbus-Plus events. A remote location RoboColumbus-Plus will be run in Ontario, Canada. The Dallas area and Canada event will be both held on November 23rd. Event schedule will be similar for both events (based on location’s time zone).
dprg_logo_250x225 RoboColumbus-Plus is an outdoor autonomous rover contest with layered objectives. The contest’s layering provides opportunities for roboticists of different skill levels to compete. All contestants that score at least 1 point (see rules) will receive a custom RoboColumbus-2024 coffee mug. Special mugs are awarded to contestants that achieve a “Perfect Score” (9 pts). Similar special mugs will be awarded for achieving one of the advanced challenges (see rules). Additionally, prizes are awarded to the contestants that place in the top positions (must be a mug winner). The contests are open to the public. Anyone can compete and all are welcome to watch.

Where:

The competition’s local location will be held in the Farmersville, TX area, which is North East of Dallas. To protect the privacy of the landowner allowing the competition to be held, competitors and others planning to attend should request the location information from secretary(at)dprg(dot)org. They will be emailed the location details before the competition. 

It is possible to join the competition using a remote location. DPRG has made many friends who live outside the Dallas area during the Covid-19 pandemic from its weekly Google Meet sessions on Tuesday. To allow these friends and other potential friends to join in the outdoor rover competition a set of guidelines has been created that explains how to join the competition using a remote location. The guidelines to setup a remote location for the RoboColumbus-Plus competition is located here robocolumbusplus_REMOTE-20240817. Make sure to read both the rules and the guidelines.

Remote Competitors:

Remote competitors will need to virtually join the competition’s Google Meet during the competition using

• Join Hangouts Meet https://meet.google.com/mwm-imzg-rss
• Join by phone: (US) +1 470-222-8542 , PIN: 334726924. This can be accomplished using a smart phone and a cellular connection.  This allows for remote locations and the Dallas location to share the excitement of the competition together. Remote competitors are also urged to make their competition runs on the same day as the local competition, however it is permissible to make their runs on an alternate date. A YouTube video link needs to be submitted of their robot’s RoboColumbus run by the end of the local Dallas competition.

RoboColumbus 2024 Mug:

This year’s mug design shows “Robie” racing to a cone. Note: A contestant can receive only one mug. If a contestant has multiple entries, the mug will be rewarded to his or her’s highest scoring robot. The reverse side will have the DPRG logo.

Local Location Schedule:

9:00 Judges will layout course and provide contestants the cone GPS coordinates. A pit area for contestants will be setup with limited power. A small practice area outside of the contest’s boundaries will be setup for contestants to test their robots.


10:30 Contestants have their robots checked for weight, size, and safety switch compliance. Robots will be able to make test runs in the practice area. No robots are allowed on the competition course. Contestants who have RTK-GPS base stations can set them up at this time. Contestants that are not participating in the “3-waypoint Challenge” will be allowed to walk the course to note conditions and take waypoints.

11:45  Lunch and socializing break. Food and drinks will be provided by DPRG at the local location.

12:30  Start of competition.

3:30-5:00  End of competition.

Rules:
Note: Rules updated on 8/22/24.
Rules may be found at robocolumbusplus-v20241110.
Da Vinci Award guidelines: robocolumbusplus_di_vinci_award-20240817

Registration:

  • Free for all contestants.
  • Pre-registration – Remote contestants should pre-register by emailing their name, their robot’s name (not required), and intention to compete to secretary (at) dprg (dot) org.
  • Out of town contestants running in the local location may contact a DPRG officer (see General Info – dprg.org} for assistance in hotel selection, robot shipping, or other needs.


Pre-registering helps the events run more smoothly and makes sure you are aware of any important news about the events.