Diary of a Winning Robot Contest Entry by the Robot Research Club:"University Robocon" Participants Overcome Tough Competition

Robots from the Robot Research Club at the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology won with designs that use multiple Renesas microcomputers.

The Robot Contest series that is broadcast throughout Japan by NHK has many fans. The University Robocon in particular sees intense competition each year, having gained the right since 2002 to send its winning team to an international tournament. The Robocon contest held in June 2006 featured robots such as the "Noko Taro" design that are controlled by Renesas microcomputers. That event saw the first victory for the Robot Research Club (RUR) of the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, which downed Tokyo University in the final and went on to compete in the ABU Robocon in Malaysia.

The Robocon contests test the performance of hand-made robots through competition. They consist of four separate tournaments: the Polytech Robocon, University Robocon, ABU Robocon, and IDC Robocon. Of these, the University Robocon contest held in June 2006 was won for the first time—and in fine fashion—by the Robot Research Club (RUR) of the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology. This competition attracts special interest because the winner gains the right to advance to the ABU Robocon, the ABU Asia-Pacific Robot Contest. "We have entered the University Robocon every year since 2004," said Koichi Kita, President of the RUR. "We were able to improve the level of our performance and win the competition by building on the experience of those who had attended the previous events."

Still, no matter how much experience the club manages to accumulate, winning at Robocon is never easy. It needs a precise strategy and a robot with the necessary performance to implement it. Watching this year's tournament, it was evident that the robots' movements had become even faster than before. The key factors in achieving victory are how quickly a competitor can score points and how it can take the initiative and prevent its opponent from scoring. "You need fast but reliable control, even though you are using low-cost motors and have to remain within a limited budget," explained Mr. Kita.

The RUR team that won at the University Robocon advanced to represent Japan at the ABU Robocon held in Kuala Lumpur in September, where they battled it out with champion teams from other countries. After making it through the preliminary league, they were defeated when they faced the eventual winning team from the Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology in the first round of the Finals tournament. However, besides placing in the top eight, they won the "Best Idea" award for battling with a range of large and small robots.

"We knew that we could not just stick with what we had done in the national competition if we were to succeed at the international level. So we tried making improvements such as increasing our speed and revising our strategy. But in the end, the international standard was just too high. We have to make a good use of this experience in the future," Mr. Kita said, highlighting his club's competitive spirit.

Photograph 1: Scene from the ABU Robocon tournament.

The challenge at the 2006 University Robocon and ABU Robocon was the "Twin Tower Builder" competition. It simulated the construction of the twin towers of Kuala Lumpur, the capital of this year's host country, Malaysia. The robots of two competing teams battled with each other during a maximum three-minute time period to replicate the twin towers by constructing two tall buildings and the skybridges between them by stacking blocks.

Two separate towers—on the left and right, respectively—were provided. The goal of each team was to stack as many as eight blocks with its team color on the tower, while simultaneously preventing the opponent team from doing so. The skybridges were made from three poles with a height that allowed three blocks to be placed on top of each other.

RUR's solution to this challenge was to use one manual machine and 6 automatic machines. The manual machine gathered blocks and placed them on the team's tower, while the automatic machines—named Noko Taro, Noko Jiro, Hikyaku, and Kobito—performed various other tasks. Noko Taro and Noko Jiro were point-scoring robots. Noko Taro stacked blocks on the remaining skybridges, while Noko Jiro placed a single block on the tower. Hikyaku was both a point-scoring and a blocking robot. It worked first by extending an arm to quickly place a block on the central skybridge. Then, after placing its block, it covered the block and extended a fishing rod to interfere with the movement of opponent's robots. There were three Kobito robots. Two formed a pair joined by string and worked to get in the way of the opponent's robots. The other one was equipped with a strong fan to blow down the opponent's completed skybridges.

At the ABU Robocon international competition, RUR members upgraded the three Kobito robots to a "More Sensor" design by joining them into a single robot that armed with two fans and the obstructive fishing rod. The students also made a Noko Jiro-II robot by fitting a bridge to Noko Jiro. The Moa Sensor robot could then use that bridge to drive over the "No-Entry Zone" and instead of having to make a detour around it.

A large number of Renesas H8 microcomputers were used in the production of these robots. The Robocon rules require that new robots be developed each year. The RUR members appreciated not only the ready availability of low-cost system boards, but also the superior software development productivity made possible by the full range of development tools that Renesas offers.

The knowledge acquired in using the H8 microcomputers is passed on from each group of students to the next. RUR continues to enter innovative robot designs that draw on ideas from the club's 50 members in other competitions besides as Robocon. Even greater accomplishments are anticipated at the 2007 University Robocon tournament, where RUR will be the defending champion.