We have spent some time during the last week reading thoroughly the rules and the description of the challenges, something we didn’t have time to do earlier because we actually only learnt about this competition one day before the deadline for the application.
In summary, we must build one single robot for all challenges, battery powered and controlled by and official Raspberry Pi, and within certain costraints in terms of configuration and dimensions.
Rules for the robots
We are permitted to enter one single robot to the competition that must handle all of the challenges. We may add attachments or exchange parts to compete in the different challenges but the basic chassis and the controller arrangement must remain the same.
We may use multiple Pis (Pi, Zero, Pico) and other boards (e.g. Arduinos, micro:bits, even non-official RP2040-derived boards etc), but an official Raspberry Pi board must be in overall/central control of the robot as the primary/core processor. Other pieces of equipment e.g. a games controller, a laptop, mobile phone or tablet may be used to control the robot, but must not be physically attached when competing on the courses.
All robots must be powered by batteries and must operate without being tethered to a static mains electricity power source.
The competition seems geared towards wheeled robots, although walking and self-balancing robots are also permitted. Even hovercraft-style robots are allowed provided that any fans are enclosed safely. Airborne robots such as drones on the other hand are not permitted.
Regarding dimensions, the main chassis including wheels and any protrusions must fit within a 225mm width x 300mm length x 370mm height box. Attachments may be added to compete in specific challenges and they can add additional length and height so that the robot with attachments at rest must fit within a 225mm width x 400mm length x 450mm height box. An attachment may be animated in some way such that it extends beyond these boundaries into an extension area that must fit within a 325mm width x 500mm length x 450mm height box.
Our thoughts
It seems that the basic architecture of our current robot is in line with the rules, but we will need to think about changing the chassis because the wheels are too wide apart and our camera protrudes too much at the front (although the camera could pass as an attachment maybe?).
Next we will need to look as well at the specific requirements from the 7 challenges