Hi all, and welcome to the first-ever Logistics Class (formally known as “Freight Class”) AVC event. We wanted to try something new this year, and hopefully having a “task-based” robot competition will entice more people to try their hand at autonomous vehicles. I wanted to create an “official” thread in the forums to help answer questions, clarify details, and post updates to the rules. Feel free to use the forum to ask us any AVC-related questions.
Official 2017 AVC Logistics Class rules can be found here: https://avc.sparkfun.com/. Updates and revisions to the rules will be found there.
How much do the rings weigh?
Building an arm that can lift several pounds several feet out is … a challenge 
Maybe just a base pivot and a hook, like an old-style tow truck, would do it. And a magnet on the hook?
Also, how far away from the robot is the operator for the non-autonomous options?
Way over in the pits, or walking right next to it?
From the rule book: "Each ring will be a 52 inch pool noodle bent and connected to itself to
form a torus with a diameter of about 16.5 inches"
In my experience, pool noodles weigh almost nothing, I would guess that 4 feet of noodle weighs a few ounces.
Left one thing out: "Four ¼”-20 bolts will be inserted radially into each ring. This will allow a
ferrous surface for picking up the rings using magnets"
So a little heavier, and MAGNETIC! (well, at least attracted to magnets)
Will the course be indoors or outdoors? I’m just wondering if I need to be concerned w/ the sun interfering with some sensors.
@jwatte - I plan to order some rings very soon and attach some bolts to get that weight for everyone. I can’t imagine them being more than 1-2 pounds. Implementation for grabbing the rings is up to you
@jwatte - We want to make the first time we try this challenging class somewhat easy, so we’re going to allow the operator to stand no closer than 1 foot away from their robot. This will allow them to walk behind it for all the tasks.
@antman - The course will be outdoors with no cover, so yes, there is a high probability of sun interference.
Update: The pool noodle connected end-to-end with an 6 in. piece of 3/4 in. PVC pipe and 4x 1/4-20 bolts with nuts weighs 7.5 + 1 oz (213 + 28 g).
Oh, that’s less than I feared! Wind catching might add more force than gravity in this case.
When is the pickup scoring task considered completed?
Lets say my robot autonomously picks up 3 rings from the twilight zone, if I disable autonomous and us RC to drive the robot across the field and then pick up all 3 rings in the danger zone autonomously, would I receive the autonomous multiplier for the task?
i.e. Is the pickup task considered complete once all 6 rings are out of their zones or if all rings the robot is within ten feet of are out of their zones?
can you give us the brand of pool noodle? Will the noodles just be there natural color or painted? Any pictures of them?
@botdesigner - You are correct. You may disable autonomous mode once the robot leaves the zone and still receive the autonomous bonus for pickup (assuming you autonomously started outside 10 feet of the rings, picked them up, and moved outside the zone). Once you leave a zone, you are considered to have started the “Transport” task. So, you can receive the autonomous bonus for picking up 6 rings even if you do not use autonomous mode to transport some of them across the track.
@jessejay356 - These are the pool noodles we’re planning to use: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01GSDTUP8/. We will update you in this thread if that changes.
Hi all! AVC is around the corner, and we’ve got some specifics on the materials used in the course.
Red vinyl tape for line following: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001HTA5FS
Green vinyl tape for zone entrances: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001HT2YY8/
Yellow vinyl tape for marking pedestrian: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000LDPX7Q/
Green “signal” for start of match will be an incandescent light: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004V5GUBS/
Red noodles: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LZ9G6G9
Green noodles: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LZLAKDO/
Blue noodles: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LWZIXS6/
The Stop/Go light is just for Logistics, right? I’m interested because I’m entered in the Car Wars event, and it was using the same start signal as Logistics (A 2 foot red/green circle). Its just that I’ve spent some considerable effort getting a reliable system working. But, it does seem like a light might be easier.
Correct, the light I posted is just for Logistics.
If anyone is curious, I’ve created an XBee button that transmits the string “GO” and a receiver that controls a green light. The code for the transmitter and receiver can be found here: https://github.com/ShawnHymel/avc_lights.
In the hopes that there is a 2018 Logistics Class I would ask that some of the tech of the field elements be reduced. For instance the start signal…Why not use something simple like the Start sign from Car Wars this year?
To do well a team is going to want to simulate and duplicate the field as much as possible. As I add up the costs of all the field elements for the Logistics Class, not to mention the space and hay environment, it gets time consuming and expensive to pull together a ‘like field’ for practice.
Another option…Sparkfun loans out to teams field elements to give them encouragement and a leg up.