“Cricket is my religion and Sachin is my God.”

For a nation obsessed with this sport it was only a matter of time before we came out with the technological version of the game. Indian cricketers are notorious for being slow on the field. That has been the cause of our downfall many a times.

You are about to change that. Make a fielding bot that is the epitome of athleticism. At Techfest 2012, test your bot’s fielding prowess against the best of the best. A unique image processing challenge awaits you.

Task

Teams have to make a fielding bot that works on the principle of Image Processing.

The bot will have to collect the balls which will be rolled down from the ramp and then deposit them into the collection pit in minimum possible time.

In the final round, teams will play a one on one cricket match against the opponent team.

Cash prizes worth INR 40,000 to be won.

Download the Problem Statement.

Register for Cricbot

Last date for registration is extended to 31st December,2011

For further queries contact:

1. The arena consists of the following zones –
   • Batting zone (indicated by colour red in figure 3)
   • Fielding zone (indicated by colour green in figure 3)
   • Starting zone (indicated by colour yellow in figure 3)
   • Bowling zone (indicated by colour brown in figure 3)
2. Figure 1 and figure 2 shows the 3D and top view of arena respectively. The actual image of the arena as taken by the overhead camera has been shown below.
3. The surface of batting and fielding zone consists of a green felt mat or carpet. The floor under the carpet is level, flat and hard.
4. The sides of the arena are lined with walls 60 mm high.
5. The boundary between the batting zone and fielding zone is marked with a 30mm thick white line called as batting crease.
6. The boundary between the starting zone and fielding zone is marked with a 30mm thick black line.
7. The starting zone is of dimension 400mm x 400mm.
8. Starting zone contains a 150mm x 150mm hole (indicated by colour blue in figure 3) for depositing the ball.

Figure 1A: 3D view of Arena	Figure 1B: 3D view of Arena
Figure 2: Top view of the arena	Figure 3: Top view with different zone marked
Figure 4A: Top view of the actual arena	Figure 4B: Top view of actual arena

The ramp wont be included in the image taken from the camera.

Note:

1. Figure 3 has been coloured just to distingush the various zones in the arena.The colours of various zone will be as shown in figure 1 and 2.
2. The image as taken by the camera will contain only some part of the ramp (bowling zone).
3. All dimensions are approximate to within a 5% margin of error.

Ball Specifications

1. The balls would be red in colour.
2. The ball is a normal rubber ball of diameter 5.6 cm approx. and weighs 90gm.

Note:

1. The colours of the arena and balls are subject to change. However, any changes made would be specified in bold on the site. So, you are advised to visit the site regularly for such changes.
2. Teams must come to the tournament prepared to calibrate their robots based on the lighting conditions at the venue. Every effort will be made by organisers to place the fields in a way that the influence by external infrared light is as low as possible.

Camera Specifications

1. The camera to be used would be C270h model of Logitech.
2. You can find the specifications of the camera here.

Competition Setup

Overall System

1. There would be one overhead camera above the arena perpendicular to the fielding zone.
2. Incase of overhead camera, the participants must use the camera provided by the organisers. However, the teams are allowed to use an on-board camera of their own.

Participants must bring their own laptops/computers for the competition.

Fielding Bot Specifications

1. Each team is allowed to have only one fielding bot.
2. The bot must fit into a cube of 200 mm x 200 mm x 250 mm (lxbxh) at all times. It may not expand at any point during it's run beyond these dimensions, even for performing tasks like grabbing etc. Violating this clause would lead to immediate disqualification.
3. The max potential difference between any two points should not exceed 24 V. The power supply may or may not be onboard.
4. The bot must be fully independent, with powering and motoring mechanisms self contained. However, it can communicate only with the computer using wired/wireless data transfer.
5. A bot is allowed to collect only one ball at a time before depositing.
6. The robotic equipment is to be fully autonomous. Human operators are not permitted to enter any information into the equipment during a run. The human operator should not directly control the motion of their robots with a joystick or by keyboard commands under any circumstances.
7. It will be the participant's responsibility if there is any data misinterpretation of the arena image taken by the overhead camera due to obstruction by the body of the bot.
8. The bot cannot be constructed using ready made Lego kits or any ready made mechanism. But you can make use of ready made gear assemblies and ready made wireless modules. Violating this clause will lead to the disqualification of the machine.
9. All the bots have to work on the principle of image processing. Any sort of ambiguity will lead to immediate disqualification. In case of doubt please confirm with the organisers about the validity of your procedure beforehand, via email.
10. The bot can touch the boundary of the arena freely for any kind of feedback.

Note - Teams should avoid using any kind of shiny material for robot surfaces. The organisers may exclude robots that do not conform to this clause.

Pre-Game Setup

The participants will get 25 minutes of setup time for calibration and testing prior to the competition according to a schedule that will be made available at the start of the event. In the setup time, participants can boot their computer and have the program ready for execution.

Game Procedure

The competition will be divided into 2 rounds.

Round 1 - Elimination Round

In this round, the fielding bot will have to collect the balls from the arena(fielding and batting area) and deposit them in the collection pit in minimum possible time. The balls will be rolled down from the ramp by the organizers.

1. The round will be carried out for 4 minutes.
2. The teams that deposit the maximum number of balls will qualify for the final round.

Round 2 - Knockouts

The top 8 teams from round 1 which deposit the maximum number of balls in the stipulated time of 4 minutes will qualify for round 2. A cricket match will be played between two teams. The batting bot will be provided by the organisers for round 2. This bot will be manually controlled.

1. Each match will be played for 8 minutes.
2. In the first 4 minutes, team A will be using its image processing based fielding bot and team B will be using the batting bot.
3. In the next 4 minutes, team A will be using the batting bot and team B will be using its image processing based fielding bot.
4. At the end of the match, the fielding team which deposits the maximum number of balls in the collection pit will be declared as the winner.

Game Rules

1. While starting, the fielding bot will be placed in the starting zone marked in figure 3.
2. The timer will start, as soon as the first ball is launched.
3. The balls will be launched from the top of the ramp by the organisers. The balls might not travel in a straight trajectory. Only one ball will be launched at a time.
4. The fielding bot should collect and deposit the balls in the collection pit.
5. The next ball will be launched only after the fielding bot deposits the previous ball in the collection pit and is back in the starting zone.
6. The bot can collect the ball only after the ball has touched the fielding zone.
7. A ball is said to be collected if it is deposited in the collection pit.
8. If a ball gets stuck while rolling down the ramp(bowling zone), it will be taken back and launched again. The timer will be stopped during this procedure. The teams can take a restart during that time.
9. If a bot is in possession of a ball when the time for the run ends and the ball is not been deposited in the collection pit, then that ball shall not be counted.
10. The bot can take feedback from the overhead or it's own on-board camera at any point of time during the game. It is advisable to use the overhead camera.

Special Rules for Knockouts

1. The batting bot will be provided to the teams by the organisers.
2. The ball will also be counted as collected if -
a) the batting bot misses a ball.
b) the batting bot hits the ball, and the ball rolls back into the batting zone.
c) the batting bot hits the ball and the ball goes directly into the collection pit.
d) the batting bot hits the ball, and the ball does not cross the batting crease.

3. Before the run, the batting teams will be given some time to practice with the batting bot.
4. Any team found damaging the batting bot will be straightaway disqualified.
5. The top surface of the batting bot will be blue in colour.



Note: The actual colours on the arena may be slightly different from the ones specified, due to ambient light and texture of materials. If possible time slots prior to the day of competition, may be given to the participants to calibrate their machines to the available light conditions in the arena subject to availability of the venue.





Disqualification

The following cases will attract disqualification:

1. In case a bot violates any of the specification criterions, specifically the following:
a) If a bot does not fit in the stipulated dimensions.
b) If a bot expands beyond the stipulated dimensions during gameplay.

2. If a bot climbs over the ramp.
3. If a bot damages the arena in any way.




Scoring

The score for a team will be equal to the total number of balls in the collection pit at the end of the run.



Ties

In case of ties in elimination round, the one that deposits the first ball in the collection pit in minimum possible time, will qualify for the next round.
In case of a tie in knockout round, the number of balls counted as collected only by virtue of deposition by the fielding bot will be awarded the winner.



General Rules

1. Organisers will be not responsible for any minor scratches left by the previous machines on the arena.
2. Any team that is not ready at the time specified will be removed from the competition automatically.
3. The machines would be checked for their safety before the run and would be discarded if found unsafe for other participants and spectators.
4. Participants should not dismantle their robots before the completion of the whole competition as the machines might need to be verified by the organisers at a later stage to ensure that the participants have not violated any of the rules.
5. Organisers' decision shall be treated as final and binding on all.
6. The organisers reserve the right to change any or all of the above rules as they deem fit.
Change in rules, if any, will be highlighted on the website and notified to the registered participants.



Team Specification

A team may consist of a maximum of 4 members. 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.



Certificate Policy

Certificate of excellence will be awarded to the top 2 winners. Certificate of participation will be awarded to the teams that deposit a minimum of 2 balls in the elimination round.
Disqualified teams will not be considered for any certificates.

1. Image Processing with open CV 1
2. Image Processing with open CV 2
3. Introduction to video Analysis using Matlab
4. Image Processing for Robotics
5. Tutorial 1
6. Tutorial 2
7. Tutorial 3
8. Tutorial 4

The following teams have been provided with the accommodation on the basis of the abstract that has been submitted. Please note that even if you are not provided with the accommodation, you are still eligible to participate in the competition.

1. 1214
2. 1258
3. 1201
4. 1215
5. 1264
6. 1256
7. 1189
8. 1232
9. 1209
10. 1249
11. 1227
12. 1236
13. 1222
14. 1229
15. 1212
16. 1203
17. 1259