Hazlett's Dead Man's Curve Challenge
That sounds a little more exciting than U-Turn Challenge (sell the sizzle, not the steak!).
Carol introduced a new contest at Robothon in October for walking robots. It was a race. Walk a few feet in a straight line, do a 180-degree turn, and come back to the start/finish line. Sounds so simple (especially compared to RoboMagellan) that I really wanted to go to see it, maybe even enter, but alas, I couldn't go. I was guessing the winning time would be under 10 seconds, maybe even 5-6 if things got interesting. But the winning time was...
Sadly, no one completed it! Obviously it's harder than it sounds, but I'll bet at least a half dozen of us have bots capable of attempting this right now. I'm hoping Carol will supply us with the rules and the arena specs. It's a specified distance, so it's slightly more formal than the Figure 8 Challenge (F8C). It's up to us Forumistas to show the world how it's done with style and substance. We can track time too, but there are many beautiful walking mechanisms that will be fun and educational to watch even if they walk at a stately pace and snub the stopwatch. As with F8C, returning to the exact start position demonstrates good repeatability and mastery of navigation and dead reckoning skills, arguably more important than sheer speed.
I'm def in. Anyone else?
Carol introduced a new contest at Robothon in October for walking robots. It was a race. Walk a few feet in a straight line, do a 180-degree turn, and come back to the start/finish line. Sounds so simple (especially compared to RoboMagellan) that I really wanted to go to see it, maybe even enter, but alas, I couldn't go. I was guessing the winning time would be under 10 seconds, maybe even 5-6 if things got interesting. But the winning time was...
Sadly, no one completed it! Obviously it's harder than it sounds, but I'll bet at least a half dozen of us have bots capable of attempting this right now. I'm hoping Carol will supply us with the rules and the arena specs. It's a specified distance, so it's slightly more formal than the Figure 8 Challenge (F8C). It's up to us Forumistas to show the world how it's done with style and substance. We can track time too, but there are many beautiful walking mechanisms that will be fun and educational to watch even if they walk at a stately pace and snub the stopwatch. As with F8C, returning to the exact start position demonstrates good repeatability and mastery of navigation and dead reckoning skills, arguably more important than sheer speed.
I'm def in. Anyone else?
Comments
Sounds deceptively simple...results seem to prove otherwise. Sadly, I have nothing that walks except for my unbuilt Yeti.
As always, i'll just sit back with the popcorn and watch!
Silly Rick. You just answered your own question. Now git mit der programme!
Edit: If little Günther can build one, so can Rick!
"a decreasing radius blind turn to the left with a downhill entry. Maximum speed in the first half of the turn is too fast for the last half of the turn, making it all too easy to lose control, run off the road and crash."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Man's_Curve
downhill and closing radius...
People have been doing these for ages.....
Now back to our normal robotics channel.
Yeah, I used to drift my 6 cylinder 1968 F-85 Oldsmobie 4-door with automatic tranny runniing from Eugene to San Francisco through the Siskyou Mountains. My best time for what was supposed to be a 12 hour journey was 6.5 hours door-to-door with one gas stop.... which included getting a ticket for doing 110mph on I-5 along the way.
Not really a good idea. surprised to still be amongst the living.
Edit: This related video about RObot Stock Car (ROSCAR) racing is also interesting.
Not so sure I like the 'robot stock car' racing on a regulation indoor track... seems a bit slow.
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I was thinking that a series of hairpin turns as a hill climb rally might be feasible for a line following robot and would add a lot to line following competitions. Measuring the G-force and centripital force to control slippage would be done with those inexpensive 9DOH sensors that are available now.
I envision something like 5 hair pin turns, turn around at the top and go back to the beginning. Layoff all 5 turns on a flat board of flexible foam. Cut the board and then bend and support to make a hill-side.
Here is a peek of what it might look like, but the photo actually has 8 turns... some banked, some flat.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Col_de_Braus-small.jpg#/media/File:Col_de_Braus-small.jpg