The goal is for each team to develop an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) which can negotiate the tasks put forth under a prescribed time and at the same time, to learn about underwater robotics and have fun in the process.
A team may consist of up to 11 participants including faculty supervisors. At least half of the participants must be non-professionals (students, hobbyists, hackerspace members, etc) at the time of registration.
All teams have to submit a video of their AUV prior to the competition. The video HAS TO
Videos will be reviewed by the organizing committee and 30 teams with the best vehicles will be short-listed to attend the competition.
The organizers reserve the right to publish the video submissions after the competition.
The challenge will be held in an olympic sized swimming pool (50m x 25m).
The qualification rounds would be held on the side of the main arena.
The qualification starting line is a marked 1m wide section of the pool wall from where the AUV should be deployed from. The AUV has to touch the wall at the begining of the run.
At approximately 10m from the starting line the qualification gate is hanging from the surface of the water. The AUV has to go through the gate to qualify. If the AUV touches ANY of the 3 sides of the qualification gate, the attempt is considered a failure.
Prop | Description | |
---|---|---|
1 | Qualification Gate | 150cm wide and ~100cm deep gate hanging from the water surface with orange markings on both port and starboard sides. |
The starting zone is a 140×140cm area marked on the surface of water. The teams must start their AUVs from this area. The team may only place the AUV at the water surface, it must autonomously submerge before leaving the starting zone. Teams may also place their communication equipment in the starting zone.
There are 4 tasks in the challenge:
The first task, Navigation, is mandatory and must be completed before attempting any other task. The other tasks can be attempted in any order. Surfacing at any point signifies end of the attempt.
The aim of this task is to swim through a gate placed at the bottom of the pool. The gate may be located anywhere on a horizontal line, parallel to the side of the swimming pool, approximately 12m away from the starting zone. See Figure 4. The AUV has to swim through the 150 cm tall gate without touching the gate.
A orange flare may be located anywhere in a rectangular zone 4m-8m from side of the arena, before the gate. The AUV has to avoid touching the orange flare. Any part of the AUV touching the orange flare causes an immediate abort of the attempt.
If the AUV successfully passes through the gate,15 Points will be awarded.
Prop | Description | |
---|---|---|
1 | Gate | 150cm wide and 150cm tall gate with striped red and green markings on port and starboard sides respectively. |
2 | Orange Flare | 150cm tall and ~15cm diameter flare, and orange in color. |
The aim of the task is to detect and acquire a target among a series of drums at the bottom of the pool, in the target zone.
A target zone is defined by a green colored mat laid out on the floor of the pool. The mat is 8m x 2m in size. Figure 4. shows the location of the mat with respect to the arena.
There are 4 colored drums in the arena. All of them are on the mat. One of the drums, chosen at random, will be blue in color, while the rest are red in color. One of the red drums, chosen at random, will contain an acoustic pinger. The AUV needs to drop a ball in one of the drums to successfully complete this task. Points will be awarded based on which drum the ball is dropped into. In the event of multiple balls being dropped, only the first ball is taken to consideration.
The location of the red drum which contains the acoustic pinger may be randomized between attempts, as may be the order of the drums. The order of the drums and location of the pinger will be decided by the organizing committee.
Points will be awarded as follows.
Prop | Description | |
---|---|---|
1 | Drum | 60cm in diameter and 30cm in depth. |
2 | Ball | 3.5-4.5cm in diameter and weigh no more than 200g in air. Provided by teams. |
3 | Drum Pinger | RJE International Pinger Model No. ULB-362B/45 kHz. |
The aim of this task is to reacquire a previously detected target.
This task is only attempt-able if the Target Acquisition has been successfully completed. Furthermore, the AUV has to leave the target zone, before it can attempt the Target Reacquisition task. Every part of the AUV needs to clear the target zone, before it can be considered outside the target zone.
After the AUV is outside the target zone, it needs to reacquire the target and pick up the ball that it dropped in the Target Acquisition task. The AUV has to hold on to the ball till the end of attempt to successfully complete this task.
This task does not have to be attempted immediately after Target Acquisition task, other tasks may be attempted in between.
If the AUV successfully picks up the ball and holds on to it till the end of the attempt, 60 Points will be awarded.
Prop | Description | |
---|---|---|
1 | Target zone | Green mat 8m x 2m in size. |
2 | Ball | Same ball used in target acquisition task. Provided by the teams. |
The aim of this task is to localize on coloured flares and bump them causing a golf ball to drop out. There are 3 coloured flares in the arena, one red coloured flare, one yellow coloured flare and one blue coloured flare. These flares could be located anywhere within the main arena. The AUV may locate and bump a flares in a specified order, which may be communicated to the AUV, to receive bonus points.
On every attempt, after the AUV successfully completes the Navigation task, the team will be informed of the order in which the flares have to be bumped. The specified order may be different between different attempts. The order will specified using the following notation, joined by a hyphen (-).
So, for example, specifying the order as R-B-Y would mean that the AUV has to bump the red flare first, followed by the blue flare and finally the yellow flare.
The team is then allowed to communicate the order with their AUVs using their communication equipment.
Points would be awarded as follows.
Prop | Description | |
---|---|---|
1 | Red Flare | 80cm tall, ~1.6cm in diameter, and red in color. |
1 | Yellow Flare | 80cm tall, ~1.6cm in diameter, and yellow in color. |
1 | Blue Flare | 80cm tall, ~1.6cm in diameter, and blue in color. |
Breaching the surface any point during the mission causes end of the current attempt, the total points for that attempt will be computed based on the tasks accomplished in that attempt and the timing bonus (if applicable) and a 5 Points bonus for ending. The team may wish to retry if they still have time left.
At any time during the mission, current attempt can be aborted, by indicating to the Game Master. The divers would then retrieve the AUV back to the starting zone. The timing for the current attempt is stopped at the time of indication. The team may wish to retry if they still have time left.
In the case of an aborted attempt, the team would be awarded the points for all previously successfully completed tasks during the current attempt.
If the AUV touches the bottom or the side walls of the pool for a cumulative time of more than 10 seconds or 5 discrete touches, the current attempt would be automatically aborted. The divers would then retrieve the AUV back to the starting zone. The team may wish to retry if they still have time left.
In the case of an automatic aborted attempt, the team would be awarded the points for all previously successfully completed tasks during the attempt.
At the end of an attempt, as long as the AUV has successfully completed at least 2 tasks, the Navigation task and any other task, bonus points proportional to the remaining time will be awarded in accordance with the following formula.
Bonus points = (900 - RUN_TIME) • 0.03
For eg. For a run time of 420s, Bonus = (900-420)•0.03 = 14.4 Points
There are penalty points for touching the floor or wall of the pool at any time, and also for touching the gate during a specific attempt. This penalty points are:
Description | Penalty Points | |
---|---|---|
1 | Touching the gate | 2 |
2 | Touching the bottom of the pool or wall | 5 |
Here are some examples scenarios and how they would be scored.
Task | Points | |
---|---|---|
1 | Navigation Task | 15 |
2 | Touching the gate | -2 |
3 | Surfacing | 5 |
Attempt Total | 18 |
Task | Points | |
---|---|---|
1 | Navigation Task | 15 |
Attempt Total | 15 |
Task | Points | |
---|---|---|
1 | Navigation Task | 15 |
2 | Target Acquisation Task (Visual) | 30 |
3 | Touching the wall | -5 |
Attempt Total | 40 |
Task | Points | |
---|---|---|
1 | Navigation Task | 15 |
2 | Target Acquisition Task (Visual) | 30 |
3 | Communication & Localization Task | 20 |
4 | Surface Bonus | 5 |
5 | Run time Bonus | 15 |
Attempt Total | 105 |
Task | Points | |
---|---|---|
1 | Navigation Task | 15 |
2 | Target Acquisation Task (Visual) | 30 |
3 | Communication & Localization Task | 40 |
Attempt Total | 85 |
Task | Points | |
---|---|---|
1 | Navigation Task | 15 |
2 | Target Acquisation Task (Visual) | 30 |
3 | Communication & Localization Task | 60 |
Attempt Total | 105 |
Task | Points | |
---|---|---|
1 | Navigation Task | 15 |
2 | Target Acquisation Task (Visual) | 30 |
3 | Communication & Localization Task | 120 |
4 | Surface Bonus | 5 |
5 | Run time Bonus | 15 |
Attempt Total | 185 |
Teams may be disqualified if :
If you spot any errors in the rulebook or have queries about the rules, please email rules@sauvc.org or contact us through our website.
For SAUVC 2024, there is a bonus round with a single task called Oceanic Navigation. This was created to allow teams to experience the challenges of operating in an oceanic environment. The bonus round will be held in the TCOMS Ocean Basin, a cutting-edge facility for testing and developing marine technology. The basin is at the National University of Singapore.
The aim of this task is for the AUV to swim through a gate in the middle of the pool. At the ocean basin, the AUVs will have to deal with waves and currents. Only the top teams from the final round will be invited to the bonus round.
An orange flare may be located anywhere in the ocean basin. The AUV has to avoid touching the orange flare. Any part of the AUV touching the orange flare causes an immediate abort of the attempt.
The basin has a wave generator capable of generating waves up to 0.5m in height and a current generator capable of generating currents up to 1.5m/s. The wave and current generators may be activated during the bonus round.
This layout is for illustration purposes only; Deployment and retrieval locations may be subject to changes.
Since the basin is a research facility, and the area is not typically open to the public, only a small predetermined number of the participants and viewers will be allowed into the facility to watch the attempt from the viewing gallery.
Members of the team doing the attempt will have to operate at the AUV Deployment/Retrieval corner under the supervision of SAUVC committee members.
Judges and TCOMS staff will be located in the subcarriage in the facility which will be positioned above the gate, providing a direct view of the gate. After a successful round/abort, the AUV will be retrieved by divers.
Details on the number of participants allowed to enter the viewing gallery will be released at a later date.
The starting zone is a 140×140cm area marked on the surface of the water. The teams must start their AUVs from this area. The team may only place the AUV at the water surface, it must autonomously submerge before leaving the starting zone.
Breaching the surface at any point during the mission causes end of the current attempt. The team may wish to retry if they still have time left.
Due to the logistics involved in deploying the AUV, teams are not allowed to manually deploy the AUV. The AUV will be deployed to the starting zone by Ocean Basin staff. The team must provision a delayed start function for the AUV to start its thrusters 120 seconds after they have passed it to the Ocean Basin staff. That way the Ocean Basin staff have enough time to move the AUV to the starting zone and leave the area before the AUV starts its mission. The start time for an attempt will be measured from the time the AUV starts thrusting in the starting zone.
Teams may be told to adjust the delay time based on the logistics involved in deploying the AUV on the day of the competition. Teams must be able to adjust the delay time given by the Judges'.
Any delay incurred due to slow starting or erroneous start functionality will count towards the total time slot allotted to the team. It will not count towards the timing of each run.
There will be no points awarded for the bonus round. The teams will be ranked based on the time taken to the end of the attempt ONLY IF the team successfully managed to complete the task. The team with the fastest time will be ranked first in the bonus round.
The gate is located in the middle of the basin, ~25m from the starting zone. The gate is 200cm tall and 200cm wide. The gate is marked with red and green markings on the port and starboard sides respectively.
Prop | Description | |
---|---|---|
1 | Gate | 200cm wide and 200cm tall gate with red and green markings on port and starboard sides respectively. |
2 | Orange Flare | 150cm tall and ~15cm diameter flare, and orange in color. |
Only the top teams from the final round will be allowed to attempt the bonus round. Ranking for the bonus round will be tabulated separately from the main competition. The top teams in the bonus round will receive a special bonus prize regardless of their performance in the main competition.
There will be NO practice time for the bonus round. The teams will be given 30 minutes to attempt the bonus round. The teams may attempt the bonus round as many times as they wish within the 30-minute. The team may choose to abort the attempt at any time. However, the retrieval of the AUV might take some time because of the logistics involved.