Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ):

Questions about rules interpretation should be directed to: millennialvision.llc@gmail.com

Q: What will the arena be like?

A: The Official Rules describe the arena's simulated building. The rooms in this building are modular to allow rearrangement of the rooms and corridores between runs (at the discretion of the Judges) to prevent systems from "memorizing" the layout. The arena will be assembled on the floor of the University of Puerto Rico's coliseum in Mayagüez (UPRM). This building has stadium seating on the sides and is air conditioned. It has a high ceiling with steel girders and a metal roof. The walls are concrete with steel rebar. The following picture shows one corner of the coliseum at UPRM:

Q: How is the roof covered? What effect will this have on the propogation of communication signals, and sound?

A: The roof of the simulated building in the arena will not be covered. There will be an altitude ceiling above which your entry will be disqualified (for that run). The simulated building ceiling is omitted to enhance viewing of the event. How that affects acoustic propagation and RF is unknown.

As shown in the photograph above, the actual ceiling of the coliseum is metal and is high above the arena's simulated building's "ceiling".

Q: What campus facilities are available?

A: The campus has a nearby cafeteria, parking for rental cars behind the coliseum, and WiFi internet access in the coliseum. Work space and secured space is also available. Power throughout Puerto Rico is 100 VAC, 60 Hz. A small mall right outside the UPRM gate has a very convenient food court with an excellent taco shop, sandwich shop, and various other fast food shops.

Q: Will the opening through which the vehicles must enter be exactly 1 square meter?

A: The opening may be as small as 1 square meter (and no smaller), however as in the 4th Mission, the opening can be larger. The Judges can modify the opening size from run to run at their discretion. Plan for a minimum of 1 square meter, knowing that it may be larger (see Official Rules).

Q: Are navigational aids allowed to detect sound?

A: Yes, they can be bidirectional.

Q: Can the navigational aids move around?

A: Yes. If they were to move, remember that navigation aids may be located anywhere in a 3 meter perimeter (maximum) bounding the outside of the arena and must stay in that area, otherwise the run would be terminated (disqualified).

Q: Can the navigational aids be used as communication relays? i.e., can the aerial robot send data to the navigational aid, and then have it relayed back to a "mothership" or to the agent who sent in the aerial robot?

A: Yes. The rules do not preclude that.

Q: Will there be distracting sources of sound or light? Will there be multiple targets?

A: There will definitely be distractions. Your target will be unique.

Q: What will the lighting conditions for the arena be like (sun-light, flourescently lit)?

A: Lighting is as shown in the coliseum picture above. The lighting is good (not dim). In addition, lighting is augmented by that which comes in through some very large windows at either end of the coliseum. Due to the lighting and the color of the coliseum itself, there is a green tint noticeable in most photographs and video.

Q: Can we use 802.11 with the navigational aids?

A: Yes, you can definitely use 802.11 for the navigation aids. You don't have to use JAUS protocols for the navigation aids.

Q: Are the navigational aids allowed to rotate to pick up a signal?

A: Yes. They can rotate, be static arrays, active, or passive.

Q: Could you give us a more detail about the blue LED on the surveillance camera? For instance, the size (5mm?), the intensity, and if it will be your standard shade of blue, so that we may purchase one that is the same for testing.

A: It could be as small as a standard 5mm LED or larger (you wouldn't know). We are not sure what "standard" shades of blue are, but it would be similar to the blue LEDs used on police cars (although not necessarily as intense). It will be the ONLY blue LED illumination, so if your filters are slightly off, you shouldn't see anything else like it. Note that other kinds of light (white light) will contain some blue components, but nowhere near as intense as the pure blue of the blue LED.

Q: What will be the composition of the in-box containing the flash drive?

A: In reality, this would probably not be known to you as an agent trying to infiltrate the compound. You know all about the flash drive because that is your target, but the nature of the furniture in the room, the wattage of the light bulb in the ceiling, the color of the carpet on the floor (if any), would not be known. So, you would not know if the in-box is wood, steel, or plastic... in fact, it is quite a bit of information to know that the target is in an in-box at all. So, the composition of the in-box is an "unknown" to you.

Q: How exposed is the flash drive going to be. Will it be pent up in a corner? will it be sitting on a plateau of papers in the inbox above the plane of anything else nearby?

A: Many details about the exact placement of the flash drive would be unknown to your team (from a scenario realism standpoint). Having said that, the IARC Judges and Staff have no intention of making the problem bizarre by making the flash drive inaccessible, disguised, or occluded. It will be on a plain colored background in a shallow "in box". The "in box" will be the top box if there are stacked "in and out boxes". It will be somewhere that is centrally located (not tucked away against a side), however your downwash of physical interaction could change that. Note that we will assure that papers do not go flying all over the place due to downwash from rotor systems.

Q: How accurate must the vehicle position and obstacle position need to be?

A: a) you must be accurate enough NOT to be running into obstacles, b) your mapping accuracy should reflect your flight accuracy... so if your obstacle detection system has a resolution of 15cm, then one would expect that your mapping would be no better (or else you would be using that information for obstacle avoidance). It could be that multiple passes in an area might result in a refined accuracy (having looked at an object from several different angles). That could result in higher resolution (we think that is really what you are talking about here, not accuracy-- there is a difference).

Q: Under General Rules Governing Entries, what do you mean by commercial radio control equipment? Can we use a standard 900 MHz spy-cam to a TV-tuner without using spread spectrum?

A: Commercial Radio Control equipment would be like Futaba R/C systems. 900 MHz cameras are OK too. Just make note of the fact that your system must be robust enough to survive the electromagnetic RFI environment of the arena. Spread spectrum devices have immunity to getting stepped on by other transmitters in the area. We are not having as stringent a "radio impound" to assure minimal interference as we have in the past, and instead are specifying that the teams must make their radio or IR or "whatever" links bullet-proof.

Q: Will a compass work inside the building?

A: We don't know. It will probably work, but we don't know what offsets it might have due to influences caused by the coliseum. In the real-world scenario, one would not be able to get into the compound to measure the accuracy of a magnetometer and it is doubtful that anyone would have run magnetometer tests in advance and published them.

Q: What kind of mapping data will we need to relay back to the base station via JAUS? (exact coordinates, distance from walls, etc.)

A: The rules list items to be noted and the format in which to describe them (your vehicle's status and course relative to the starting point in Cartesian coordinates, for example. Also significant obstacles that you detected to avoid and of course the target). See the MISSION CRITICAL ELEMENTS section of the Rules. You are not doing a detailed map of the interior, but rather showing a successful path from the entry point to the target. If you were to provide a detailed map of the interior, that might impress the Judges however.

Q: Is there a designated area that we will launch from-- is there a platform?

A: Yes, there is a designated area. No, there is no platform. You must simply launch from that area (somehow).

Q: Are we given the exact location of the window in relation to the launch area?

A: NO. Watch the 5th Mission video to see how past teams entered the window. The 6th Mission will require similar behaviors.

Q: How many windows are there on the face of the building with the target window?

A: Only the target window.

Q: Is the weight of the vehicle (1.5 kg) per vehicle or total weight of the vehicles?

A: Per vehicle.

Q: What are the dimensions of the directional signs within the building?

A: Unknown to you, but typical of what one might expect for directional signs found in hallways.

Q: Can the outside navigational aids be signal repeaters?

A: The intent was that these things be navigational aids, but signal repeaters would also be OK. Nonetheless, you would have to stay within the limits of "how many" and "where they could be dropped" (the dropping, of course, is simulated... a person can place them "as if" you had a mothership do it for you).

Q: What kind of objects are in the way?

A: The arena set up document that helps you build a similar arena at your location specifies some of the obstacles to be found inside the building. The 5th Mission arena was far more "sterile" than what you will encounter during the 6th Mission.

Q: Is is it permissible to use an assumed "mothership" as a reference for localization?

A: Yes. So that means that you can have the (simulated) mothership and two dropped references (all being within the stated boundaries). Note that to avoid detection by external video cameras, the position of the (simulated) mothership can not be near the entry window (which will have a nearby video camera with an estimated field of view dictated by the Judges).

Q: It appears that if multiple vehicles are flying and one of them lands (intentionally or otherwise) in the competition area the attempt may continue as long as the "final functional vehicle" is still operating (flying). Is that a correct interpretation?

A: If multiple vehicles are operating simultaneously and the others "fail", the attempt will continue until the last one "fails" or "succeeds". If any vehicle lands or even touches the floor, it will be assumed to have set off the security alarm and the mission duration will be diminished in accordance with the Official Rules for that run. Other rules may pre-empt this however. For example, were one of the vehicles to leave the arena (or in the opinion of the Judge, is about the leave the arena), then the run would be terminated even if other vehicles in your swarm were still fully functional and operating correctly. Air vehicles may land and takeoff autonomously within the arena if desired but this will affect the mission time due to the triggering of the floor alarm.

Q: Does coming to rest on an obstacle (intentionally or otherwise) constitute "landing", or is it only the ground that counts?

Avoiding all obstacles without collision is necessary, but if you intentionally "attach" to an obstacle, that would constitute landing (and hence, not be considered a collision). Note however, this is the International "Aerial" Robotics Competition, so something that flies briefly and then performs the majority of the mission by climbing or walking/rolling around, would not constitute an aerial vehicle. Vehicles which land periodically (and autonomously) to reset gyro references and then take off again would be acceptable. Once in the vicinity of the target, a vehicle might also land and scan from a stable platform (such as a desk) to gather and analyze pictures. Landing on tables, chairs, desks or other obstacles DOES NOT set off the floor alarm. Landing on the floor (or touching it) WILL set off the floor alarm.

Q: If a particular vehicle from a swarm lands (on the ground or on an obstacle), is that vehicle prohibited from continuing in the attempt? For instance, if a group of vehicles work together alternately flying and landing, would this violate the rules?

A: That would be cooperative behavior and would be acceptable. Multiple vehicles could "leap frog" into the target area (so long as the "leaping" was by flight and not crawling/rolling/hopping). Individual vehicles could also go in and act as "bread crumb beacons" for subsequent vehicles to reference so long as a) they fly into the arena throught the entry portal, b) the weight of each air vehicle does not exceed 1.50 kg, and c) they are fully autonomous. Any vehicle coming in contact with the floor will activate the floor alarm system.

Q: Under the current rules, would it be permissible then for a single vehicle to drop multiple "bread crumb" beacons for other vehicles to follow?

A: Dropping things inside the (simulated) building is perfectly acceptable during a given run, but they could not stay there from run to run. They would have to be redropped. Also, the rules would exclude any "vehicle" from being dropped (that is, anything with the ability to move around). Anything dropped should just be a marker (if passive) or beacon (if active). Anything dropped can not damage the floor (e.g., it can not be like a "dart" to stick in place, or a paint marker), it must be something that can be freely picked up without leaving a trace. Anything dropped on the floor will set off the floor alarm.

Q: Is there any sort of alarm or radio signal indicating that the mission is no longer covert, should the vehicle break the laser barrier or be detected by the camera?

A: We'll have an audio alarm. In reality, the system could have a "silent alarm" and you would never know that you'd set off the alarm (at least that is how the security guys at the compound would probably design their system). The audio alarm will mainly be for the team, Judges, and spectators to know that the laser barrier has been breached. With regard to the camera at the entrance, that will simply be a Judge's call and will occur before you've really gotten far into the mission. Again, in reality there might not be an alarm if a guard noticed your vehicle on the camera. For consistency, we'll see to it that there is an audible alarm for that occurrence as well. In either case, the Judges need to know that your vehicle has been detected so they can change their end-of-mission countdown timers. The nature of the alarm sound will be unknown to you except that it will be unusual compared to background noise and will persist long enough to be detected by your vehicle.

GENERAL ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION:

Q: How do we get to the UPRM campus once we arrive in Puerto Rico?

A: For periodically updated details, see: http://www.me.uprm.edu/sleonardi/fly2uprm.htm

Q: Where can we stay once we arrive at UPRM?

A: For a periodically updated list of accommodations, see: http://www.me.uprm.edu/sleonardi/places.htm. Note that besides hotels, there are apartments and vacation homes for weekly rent.

Q: Where can we get parts/materials locally?

A: For a periodically updated list, see: http://www.me.uprm.edu/sleonardi/hobby.htm (note that there are many places around Puerto Rico and especially in San Juan where you can buy supplies, but the locations listed here are those which are closest to the UPRM campus)