The rules are slightly updated when compared to the last year. They are available on GitHub with tag ROBOTOUR2023RC1: English. and Czech

There is no registration form for this year - simply send us email (ideally till the end of July 2023) to webmaster-at-robotika.cz with subject Robotour 2023 - TEAM NAME

p.s. and thanks for already registered teams

OK, the game for 2023 is over, but it was a nice game. We had all weather conditions — from light rain, over mirror roads once sun came up to perfect sunny afternoon as the day before. It was a kind reminder to teams that their robot has to be ready for bad weather, and the lesson learned is that it is not enough to protect it from the top only. There was almost nobody, when the competition started in the rainy morning, and it was quite crowded once the final run at 4pm was held.

The base was an outdoor cinema, but we could also use indoor space, which was great. Warm + electricity, what would you need more?

Not all robots show up on the preliminary testing round (yeah, some robots did not show even for the finals). The coordinates for the 1st round remained the same, but nobody managed more than to leave the semi-autonomous zone. In particular I would highlight BeMaTo team, which built a new robotic platform and even though it was driving with skid steering it was moving beautifully. Actually you can find team HiBeMaTo in 2006 so there is „some” overlap.

Both Istrobotics and ARBot had issues to enter sandy footway from perfect asphalt road. Moreover there were leaves and bits (maybe more than bits) of grass. Both teams were driving back and forth around the entry, but failed. I remember Istrobotics hitting the bench and ARBot driving on the grass.

The 2nd round was supposed to be easy, pickup place next to the memorial of Stefanik, asfalt road all the way. But … the teams had complete maps of the park with nearby roads and their planner looked for the optimal (shortest path, weighted length of segments with the surface type), so they selected a direct road which I overlooked. Not only cars were there "once a while" but also "locomotive with tourists". Again both leading times explored parking areas with cars, which was the end for Istrobotics once a driver of a pick-up opened high white doors. It was not considered as obstacle by the robot. ARBot interupted his attempt when the robot finally found the way back on the road, yes, in the middle of the road, and suddenly a locomotive was approaching it. I think that in the rules we have some exception that it could be restored and ARBot would score an extra 10 points for pickup, but …

The 3rd round in the afternoon was on the main promenade, all the way to the fountain and left to a smaller road. Again both leading robots went to the fountain without any issue but there must be something strange, because Istrobotics picked lower left corner and ARBot" the upper one. ARBot"" managed to recover (the platform is tricycle, which can turn in place) and reached the pickup area, but Istrobotics during backup ended in the grass without scoring. OTOH after manual recovery they managed to reach pickup, delivery and home without any issue.

The last 4th run was the most exciting. A lot of visitors and robots finally scored. ARBot was leading, pickup, delivery, but then it was impossible for the robot to return on the main road. There was a small edge, change of surface and the robots always changed its mind when it was "too close".

Istrobotics decided to try a new rule that they can re-run the pickup-delivery pair for extra 20 points, but … as the robot was approaching the pickup area Rado suddenly said that it would not work. There is a limit for 3 waypoints and after the last one the robot will just go straight "for ever" (I would expect to stop but maybe this was some testing backdoor to test basic road navigation). And yes the robot passed the pickup place without stopping and continue straight over two crossings. But then it headed to the service area! There is a rule that robot can return (autonomously) to a service area anytime for repair or replacement of batteries. And that is exactly what they did + increased the speed as the 1 hour for the round was ending. Yeah, and they did it — perfect pickup, delivery, say hello to unhappy ARBot and back home. In total 51 points for this round and final victory!

And what about the other teams? Short Circuits had some fatal problems with the USB hub, which connected several critical sensors and over time it degraded some much that in the final round the robot was not able to move at all. The opposite was the progress of team Slnava and their „police car”. At 4:55pm it almost reached the end of the semi-autonomous zone, but failed. And Smely Zajko? Nobody knows.

To summarize I would say that the contest was nice this year with dramatic finals. The park was large and combined various road types and as Piestany is a spa city, there were also many visitors (once the sun showed up). Big thanks to Richard Balogh, who organized this year Robotour!

p.s. If you are interested and you would like to join us next year then you can look forward to the castle garden Buchlovice/Czech Republic.

If you would like to somehow support this contest or you have some comments/question, please use our standard contact form.