RE: Minimal mice

[Duncan Louttit <duncan@swallow.co.uk>]

Hi Everyone,

         The schools competition has been running just such an event for 
some years now. The course has most of the features that a wall follower 
has to cope with and is small enough to fit in the back of a car. Details 
of the course and how to make it are on our website at:

         http://www.swallow.co.uk/umouse/miniwall.htm

         The one problem is that lap times can be quite short at under 10 
seconds. It may be necessary to run 3 or 4 laps to separate similar fast 
mice with manual timing.

         It should be possible to get at least 4 of these courses on a 
full-size maze.

         If you have a suitable standardised course, it becomes possible to 
run 2 mice simultaneously on the same course in a pursuit competition for 
extra audience excitement.

         Regards,

         Duncan


At 01:44 19/11/04, you wrote:
>Hi just to chip in,
>             In Singapore the school micromouse event does have a micromouse
>race where the race path is released a few days before hand. On that day
>participants are given several tries to clock the fastest run.
>
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Daniel Chia
>
>"Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration."
>
>      - Thomas Edison
>
>E-mail: danielcjh@yahoo.com.sg
>MSN: danstryder01@yahoo.com.sg
>ICQ: 37878331
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Tony Wilcox [mailto:owner-micromouse@cs.rhul.ac.uk] On Behalf Of Tony
>Wilcox
>Sent: 19 November 2004 06:55
>To: micromouse@cs.rhul.ac.uk
>Subject: RE: Minimal mice
>
>Hi Peter and all ,
>
>We ran a student assignment last year based on the idea of a timed race
>around a rectangular course - and we'll most likely run it again this year.
>It should have happened by the time Micromouse 2005 has run its course ...
>so we may be able to show something off in the hub. We could actually run a
>small event alongside the main competition to try it out .....
>
>Regards
>
>Tony
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: owner-micromouse@cs.rhul.ac.uk on behalf of Peter Harrison
>Sent: Thu 11/18/2004 9:54 PM
>To: micromouse@cs.rhul.ac.uk
>Cc:
>Subject: Re: Minimal mice
>I would like to see a mouse race. I understand that, in some SE Asian
>competitions, there is an event for mice to do a timed lap around the
>outside of the maze. This would be extremely easy to set up and I would
>expect most existing mice to be adaptable in as much as they would use
>whatever algorithm they have to solve a path.
>
>It would be a good way for the developing mouse builder to test or show
>of his/her straight line speed, steering control and cornering prowess.
>On my midget 5x5 maze at home, it is a compulsory event to test the
>effect of small changes to some of the cornering code and such.
>
>Two mice could compete in half each of a full-size maze. Heats and a
>knockout competition might be fun. Simple electronic detection can
>determine the winner if necessary.
>
>  From my point of view, this would be a valid and useful competition
>because it is a reasonable stage in the development of a competition
>mouse. It would also give students with shorter project times a
>legitimate goal.
>
>
>Bill Marshall wrote:
>
> >With all this discussion of minimal mice how about this idea? Forgive me if
>it's been discussed before, but how about mouse circuit racing as an
>intermediate complexity event? I suspect many are put off maze solving
>because:
> >1. You need access to a maze for development.
> >2. The task is very complicated if anything other than a simple mechanical
>wall follower is built.
> >3. The average micromouse competition is not very exciting to the younger
>onlookers who see many robots failing to make much progress.
> >
> >A rectangular walled circuit 'maze' would be much easier to construct and
>could be any size.
> >The racing mice would need essentially the same hardware as a maze solver
>(microcontroller plus side looking wall sensors), but the software would be
>greatly simplified. Normally you need the low-level control and navigation
>routines with a maze solver on top. The racer still needs the control but no
>solver and easy navigation.
> >
> >