Today was the final of the RoboChallenge where robots compete on the ability to find and catch differnent colored balls. Amongst others the event is sponsored by Microsoft:
.NET was used amongst the platforms used for the robot software. Amongst others I saw Eclipse and Delphi. Some robots were a PC on wheels. others were controlled by a fixed PC over Wifi. They had to do a couple of rounds. First against the clock. Later one against one. Who gets the balls first ?
Now quite different robot charteristics come into play. How will it react on the other player ? Herminator was a fast creature, but in the final she locked-up on start. Giving Mars the ability to clean the terrain from balls like a bulldozer. Herminator awakened, made a dash through the field but was to late to make up the difference. Good sport !
Both these finalists were from the instute for Artificial Intelligence of the Groningen University which had 5 teams. Coming may 24th all of them will give a presentatation on their robots.
Before you follow the links: they are in Dutch... But the RoboChallenge will go international. Next year is an international open contest. Expect the website to internationalize.
(Er gaat niets boven Groningen :)