Rescue Rangers

Problem Statement

Introduction & Aim

We have all watched the news of natural disasters such as earthquakes,
floods and avalanches hitting some places in India or some other locations in
the world. In such situations rescue and relief operations become important.
The aim of this competition is to build a robot to carry out the rescue mission
in conditions that are too dangerous for the rescuers to conduct rescue
mission themselves. The Robot should be able to maneuver through rough
terrain, climb mountains and cross the mysterious zone and supply food and
medicines to the disaster struck region in minimum time.

Arena
The entire arena for the game is encapsulated within a square space of
dimensions 250 cm x 250 cm.

There is a marked Start Zone and Finish Zone. The Start Zone and the
Finish Zone dimensions are 30 x 30cm. The Start Zone and the Finish zone
are connected by a path called the Challenge Zone.
The Challenge Zone consists of 5 sub-zones and 5 checkpoints. The robot
has to cross all the 5 sub-zones to reach the Finish Zone while delivering relief
packages at each of the 5 checkpoints.

The 5 sub-zones are as follows:

1. Uneven Terrain - This portion of the arena contains speed bumps with a
cross section of a trapezoid with heights up to 5 cm. The area of this
portion is 150 x 45 cm. The robot needs to manoeuvre swiftly through
the region to save time.
A cross-sectional view of a speed bump in the uneven terrain region is
shown in figure 1. The uneven terrain may contain more than one speed
bumps. The speed bump depicted in the image has maximum height i.e.
5 cm. The cross-sectional width for each speed bump is 24 cm.
 Figure 1. Cross-section of a speed bump

2. Narrow Bridge - This is a narrow-elevated path of width 30 cm and

height 25 cm. The path follows a zig-zag curve of length 100 cm. The
robot has to be careful otherwise it may fall into the cliff.
Transition from checkpoint 1 to the narrow bridge is depicted in figure 2.
The curve along the path of the bridge will be revealed on the day of the
competition.

Figure 2. Transition to narrow bridge

3. See-Saw Hill - In this area the robot has to traverse uphill & downhill. It
has to be careful as the balance of robot need to be maintained at all
times. The robot has to cross a see-saw path as shown in figure 3.
 Figure 3. The See-Saw Hill

4. Deep Valley - This will be a region containing rectangular cuts in the

arena with dimensions as shown in Figure 4. The land bot must avoid
falling in the hole and must look to manoeuvre around it.
The deep valley zone has slits on the robot path. Width of each slit
would be 5 cm and a slit can have a maximum length of 20 cm. The
path to the deep valley will be elevated at height of 10 cm. The
elevation will be of gradual slope.

Figure 4. The Deep Valley

5. The Mystery Zone - One of the most challenging tasks of the entire
mission is crossing the mysterious zone which is hit by landslides. The
robot has to cross a rotating turntable. The diameter of turntable is 60
cm. The rotating speed of the turntable will vary depending on the
weight of the robot.
 Figure 5. The Mystery Zone

There is a checkpoint after each of the 5 subzones which is marked a delivery

station. The delivery station is a cylindrical hole of diameter 6 cm and depth 6
cm in the middle of the path.

Gameplay:
The objective is to traverse the complete path from the Start Zone to the
Finish Zone through the Challenge Zone and successfully deliver all the
relief packages at the checkpoints in the minimum time.

The robot will start from the Start Zone. It will travel along the Challenge Zone
delivering relief packages at the check points and avoiding/overcoming the
obstacles in its path. At the start of the game the robot can be preloaded with
exactly 5 delivery packages. A delivery package is a spherical ball of diameter
40mm (a typical table tennis ball can be used) painted in red colour. The robot
should move through the sub-zones strictly in the order mentioned above. It
must deliver the relief package successfully to the delivery station at the
checkpoint of the sub-zone before proceeding towards the next sub-zone. A
delivery is successful if and only if exactly one relief package is dropped into
the delivery station such that the ball is completely inside the cylindrical hole.
In case a team fails to overcome an obstacle or successfully deliver a
package, it may ask for a reload. A robot is not allowed drop the relief
package on the arena anywhere else except for the delivery station, failing to
do so calls for a mandatory reload. In case any of the teams fails to finish the
challenge, i.e. deliver successfully all the 5 relief packages and reach the
finish zone with the given number of reloads, the team with most no. of
successful deliveries will be declared as the winner. In the event two or more
teams completing equal no. of successful deliveries, the team completing the
last delivery in least time will be declared as winner.
 Reloads
1. A maximum of three reloads are allowed for each team.
2. At each reload, a team can manually load the relief package on its robot.
3. Only one relief package can be manually loaded in a reload.
4. After reloading the relief package, the robot must start from the previous
successful checkpoint. In case a team takes a reload at the first
checkpoint, the robot must start from the Start Zone.
5. The time for reloading will be included in the final time for completion of the
game.

 Restarts
1. During a restart the team has the option to fix a damaged component of its
bot including replacing its battery supply.
2. No modifications except part replacement can be done to either bot.
3. Time for the run will not reset after a restart.

Robot Specification:

1. Only one manually-operated robot is allowed per team.

2. The bots may be controlled using one or more external remotes, whose
3. dimensions are unrestricted, provided the remotes never provide thrust
force on the land or water robots at any time during the run.
4. The bot may be wired or wireless. If wireless then ensure that it is able to
run on
two or more frequencies to avoid interference with outside objects.
5. The bot must not be made using any readymade assembly kits or Lego
kits.
6. The dimension of the robot should not exceed 25 x 25 x 30cm at the
start.
7. During inspection, the robot will be placed into a ‘sizing box’ which has
interior dimension matching the above size constraints.
8. The robot can expand its size/shape once it is out of the starting zone.
9. Robot should not intentionally detach parts or leave mechanisms on the
arena (except the rescue packages).
10. Robot should not damage any part of the Arena.
11.The robot must not weight more than 6 kg.

Power Supply:

1. Teams must bring their own power supply to the venue of the event.
2. The participants must use an onboard electric or non-electric power supply.
However, the power source must be non-polluting and must satisfy the
safety constraints determined by the organisers. In case of non-electric
power supply, the participants must get it approved from the organisers
beforehand via email.
3. Organisers are not responsible for the inconvenience if the approval is
not sought.
4. In case of an electric power supply, the voltage difference between any
two points during any point of time should not exceed 24V.

Penalties and Disqualification:

1. Breaking or vandalising any part of the field will result in instant
disqualification. This includes breaking or damaging any delivery station
or obstacle.

General Rules:
1) Teams must adhere to the healthy spirit of competition.
2) The bots will be checked for safety before the run and will be disqualified
if found unsafe.
3) Measurements and verdicts made by an officiating judge will be
deemed final.
4) The organisers reserve the rights to change any or all of the above rules
as they deem fit. Change in rules, if any will be highlighted on the website
and notified to the registered teams.

Team Specifications:

1) A team can consist of a maximum of 4 members.

2) All team members must be of the same educational institute.
3) Two teams from the same educational institute are allowed.
4) A team can register as two separate teams provided they are using
two different robots.

Eligibility:
All students with a valid identity card of their respective educational
institutes are eligible to participate in the event.
Certificate and Prizes:

1) Prizes mentioned on the Tryst2018 website. The Tryst Team reserves the
right to make changes in the prizes until 1 week before the actual
competition based on the no. of registrations received.
2) Certificate of Excellence to Top 5 positions.
3) Certificate of Participation to all legal entries.
4) Disqualified teams will not be eligible for any certificate or prize.

For further queries, feel free to contact

Arjun Bhardwaj
+91 8800653394
arbhardwaj98@gmail.com

Amogh Gupta
+91 8178046957
amoghiit@gmail.com