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| Welcome to RoboChamps! |
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While there has long been a large audience interested in robotics, there have also been a number of barriers to entry, both real and perceived. Robots are not widely available in traditional retail stores. If one could find a programmable robot, the cost was often times non-trivial. In addition, the ‘robot’ that could be purchased was often in the form of a kit and required hardware knowledge and skills. And if one could both find and afford a robot, there was a perception that programming one must be difficult.
RoboChamps is a new robotics programming league that removes those barriers to entry and makes robotics available to a broad audience. RoboChamps is based in simulation, which removes the barriers to entry of availability, cost, and deep hardware knowledge. RoboChamps is more specifically built on top of the simulation functionality provided in Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio 2008, which means that participants can program their robots using the .NET languages they are already familiar with.
In addition, a simulated robotics competition provides the opportunity for participants to engage in rich simulation environments and use robots that are unattainable via other means. For example, RoboChamps participants have the opportunity to navigate a rescue robot in a city struck by disaster, program a car to drive autonomously in a traffic filled city and drive a rover on the surface of Mars – all scenarios that would be financially prohibitive for most individuals.
RoboChamps consist of a series of challenges. Each challenge comes with a 3-D simulation environment, a robot, a challenge scenario, and the rules for completing the scenario. From there, it’s up to your creativity and coding skills. Using .NET, code your robot to complete the challenge successfully, and submit an entry to the RoboChamps League. A referee service will be running to make sure the rules are being followed, determine your score and send it back to RoboChamps.com.
Ready to get started? |
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| Step 1 - Register |
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| First, you’ll want to set up a profile on Robochamps.com and pick your RoboCard Avatar. |
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| [ click here to register ] |
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| Step 4 - Pick a Challenge |
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The RoboChamps League season consists of a series of challenges that will take you from the earth to the outer reaches of space and back again. The regular season challenges will be released on a regular basis and can be completed in any order (although we recommend starting with Amazed).
The next step is to pick one of the available Challenges and download the challenge kit. |
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| [ click here to go to the RoboChamps Challenge Page ] |
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| Step 5 - Compete |
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| Write your code to complete the challenge(s) and submit using the instructions provided with each challenge. When you’re happy with the performance of your code, you’ll submit a ‘qualifying run’ using a challenge-specific dashboard that was installed with your challenge. |
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| Step 6 - Participate in the Community |
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There are lots of ways to stay connected with the RoboChamp Community. On the site, we provide a series of forums that allow you to communicate with fellow Leaguers. In the community area you can ask for advice, share your knowledge, and chat about all things robot.
For users running Windows Vista, RoboChamps also has a Windows SideBar gadget. This will provide you with the latest league news, the current leaderboard, as well as let you show off your RoboCard. |
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| [ click here to go to the RoboChamps Community Page ] |
| [ click here to get the RoboChamps SideBar Gadget ] |
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| Step 7 - Watch the Show |
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RoboChamps will also have its own show, where we’ll recap what’s going on in the world of RoboChamps and robotics. You’ll see highlight videos of the submissions sent in thus far, hear cool robot news, and see some cool projects people are working on in the community.
The show is recorded using the new 3D recording feauture in Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio 2008, and will broadcast ‘on location’ from the various 3-D RoboChamps challenge environments.
Note: To coincide with the launch, we currently have the show playing on the main page of the site. |
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| [ click here to go to the RoboChamps Show Page ] |
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| Now go code some robots |
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Following those steps, you should be ready to compete and win! For each challenge we will be giving away prizes to the top finalists, including real robots (see individual challenge pages for details).
Be sure to build up your skills in the regular season challenges. At the end of season one, we’ll have a bracketed tournament where leaguers will compete head to head against other members of the league. The tournament will determine four finalists who will move from simulation to the real world and having their code run against real robots. Details for the tournament will be released later in the season, stay tuned to RoboChams.com for updates.
Marc Mercuri
RoboChamps League Commissioner |
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