Re: APEC Rules

[David Otten <otten@mit.edu>]

Give me your mailing address and I can send you a copy of the articles.

Usually walls attach to posts with a tongue and grove mechanism.  The ends 
of the walls have a narrow strip that sticks out (tongue) and it fits in a 
slot (groove) in the side of the post.  The original Japanese walls were 
made of plywood with metal strips glued into each end to form the 
tongue.  The metal strips were probably .02" thick.  The slot in the posts 
was probably 0.03" wide.  If there is no wall on a particular side of a 
post, the slot is exposed and the mouse may see the slot which is quite 
narrow in the case of the Japanese maze and generally smaller than the 
resolution of most micromouse sensors.  If walls are made of plastic, the 
tongue is generally formed as part of the wall and tends to be much 
thicker, perhaps 0.1 - 0.125".  The corresponding slot in the post is also 
wider and may be within the range of what the sensors "see".  Since the 
post is the last thing the sensors see before an open square, there is a 
chance that the slot confuses the mouse if the designer is not thinking 
about it.

At 11:26 AM 7/20/04 -0700, you wrote:
>could someone explain the japanese slot width and what it has to do with a
>metal strip?   (i'm confused)
>
>do they cover the slot with a metal strip?
>
>*where can i find ottens circuit cellar papers on micromouse.... other than
>getting them from circuit cellar?
>
>thanks,
>fred
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "David Otten" <otten@mit.edu>
>To: <micromouse@cs.rhul.ac.uk>
>Sent: Tuesday, July 20, 2004 5:02 AM
>Subject: APEC Rules
>
>
> > As the keeper of the APEC rules I would say that they work well.
> >
> > Scoring rules in general are more difficult to administer than rules that
> > just seek to measure the fastest of several runs.  We use a program John
> > Billingsly wrote in BASIC to manually score the contest and calculate the
> > results.  Making sure that the first touch of the mouse is properly
> > recorded has proven a problem in the past.  I don't think it is a big
> > problem.  Our contest this year was perhaps a little too close for manual
> > scoring so I hope I have time to address that issue for next year.
> >
> > We do have a rule requesting mice to stay at least 1 second in the start
> > square before starting a new run.  This is to allow the scoring system
> > (manual or automatic) time to get ready to time the next run.  (Not
> > everyone does this but we reserved the right to make a scoring mistake if
> > they don't.)  The work around this year at the UK contest was to move the
> > timing start about 5 squares out.
> >
> > The rules do not say anything about the wide slot that is in the post of
> > most mazes today.  Probably they should give the designer a heads up.  The
> > mazes in Japan do not have this, using only a narrow slot for a metal
> > strip.  I like the Japanese system but I think mouse designers should
> > understand that both types exist and be prepared to deal with it.
> >
> > >I would tend to favour the adoption of the APEC form of the rules if only
> > >to allow more consistency.
> > >
> > >There are American readers on the list. How well do you feel the APEC
> > >rules work?
> > >
> > >Pete Harrison
> > >http://micromouse.cannock.ac.uk/
> > >
> >