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Eurobot 2003

Heads or Tails

The goal of the competing robots is to flip as many pucks as possible the correct side up within 90 seconds. The playing field is traditionally 2.1x3m, this time with a checkerboard pattern. The robots no longer start from dedicated areas at the ends of the playing fields – instead they start in opposing corners. The robots can build towers of pucks, which score more points. Above each side of the field there are two special pucks painted from both sides with the same color. These can be shot down by table tennis balls. The competition will take place in La-Ferté Bernard, France from 30th of May to 1st of June.

Robots participating in the competition must be fully autonomous and must comply with certain limitations. During the whole span of a match their circumference must not exceed 120cm (the exact rule talks about a convex hull after a vertical projection on the playfield), and must not be higher than 40cm. Each robot has to be equipped with a surface at the height of 40cm, where the opponent team may place their beacon.
The beacon on the opponent's robot, as well as the checkerboard pattern on the table is intended to ease the control and navigation of the robots. Furthermore it is possible to put four additional beacons (all are limited in dimension by a cube of 8cm side length) above the opponent side of the playing on pre-installed beacon supports.
The checkerboard pattern is made of 10 by 7 squares, each 30 x 30 centimeters. At the beginning of each match 12 two-coloured pucks are distributed into the corners of these squares. The distribution is centrally (anti)symmetric, so that no robot gets an advantage.
The pucks are painted red and green on their outer sides, black and white on the inside. In a height of 40 centimeters above the playing field on its far sides are placed single colored pucks, which can be shot down by table tennis balls. Each robot can carry up to five balls and can collect them during the match. These pucks are intended to fall down onto the playing field after being hit by a ball. The exact mechanism is not described in the published rules yet, and most likely an addendum will be released with the description before the competition.
At the beginning of a match all pucks are placed vertically. The goal of each robot is to turn the pucks 'their' side up – the robot starting on a black field is trying to turn all the pucks facing up the green color, the robot starting on a white field is turning all the pucks red up.
The pucks can be built into columns and only the color of the top puck is checked. A single puck scores 1 point, two pucks 3 points and for three pucks in a column the robot gets 5 points. For more than 3 pucks there is no points for the robot. During a match a robot must not carry more than four pucks lest it be penalized.
A match duration is 90 seconds. After this time the winner is declared. The winner gets four extra points (in additions to those scored in a match) to the global score. In case of a draw, both sides get two points.
The complete set of rules including exact dimensions and blueprints are available in English, French and German on the organizer's web site.
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