SubT Cave Circuit
Robotika Team
The DARPA Subterranean Challenge Cave Circuit is the 3rd (and the last) stage of two years project. The expected event date will be no earlier than October 2020. Update: 9/12/2020 — Cave Environment Preview
Content
- 200422: DARPA SubT Challenge Cave Circuit Announcements
- 200423: Systems Competition Cave Circuit Waiver
- 200625: Robotika Cave STIX01
- 200723: System Cave Circuit was CANCELED!
- 201209: Cave Environment Preview
22nd April 2020 — DARPA SubT Challenge Cave Circuit Announcements
Team Robotika,
We have a few big announcements that were posted to the Community Forum today
regarding Cave Circuit which pertain to both Systems and Virtual Competitions,
outlined here briefly.
As noted below, we are transitioning qualification materials to a Team Portal.
Your Team identifier for your Systems Profile is XXXXX. Your Team
identified for your Virtual Profile is XXXXX.
Schedule Shift of the Cave Circuit
First, due to the circumstances and restrictions surrounding COVID-19, Cave
Circuit will be no earlier than October 2020. We welcome updates on the
schedule shift’s implications for your team, which can be sent to XXXXX.
Cave Circuit Artifacts Announced
The two event-specific artifacts for Cave Circuit have been announced in the
updated Artifact Specification Guide. Virtual models of both artifacts are
available on the SubT Tech Repo.
Qualifications for Cave Circuit
The Qualification Guide has also been updated for Cave Circuit, and the Cave
Circuit qualification world is now available for the Virtual Competition.
Details regarding qualification:
1. All qualification materials will now be submitted via the SubT Challenge
Team Portal. Previously submitted team data will pre-populate if the profile is
created with your one-time-use Team Identifier(s).
2. The scoring threshold for successful Virtual qualification has been
updated for the Cave Circuit.
3. Eligible Systems teams will receive qualification waivers for the Cave
Circuit via email.
4. All Virtual teams will need to qualify using the Cave Circuit qualification
scenario, i.e., no qualification waivers will be issued for Cave Circuit.
5. Qualification deadlines will be announced at a later date for both Systems
and Virtual Competitions.
As a reminder, new teams that are interested in participating in the SubT
Challenge must first complete Team Registration before submitting qualification
materials.
Getting Started with *Hello (Subterranean) World*
The first of many Hello (Subterranean) World posts has also been released to
introduce new competitors to the SubT Virtual Testbed.
We look forward to seeing your technology developments for Cave Circuit and,
above all, hope your teams stay safe and well.
Sincerely,
The SubT Challenge Team
23rd April 2020 — Systems Competition Cave Circuit Waiver
Urban Circuit Systems Teams,
We hope you are staying safe. This is a notice that your team has received a
Team Qualification waiver for the Cave Circuit of the Systems Competition based
on your successful participation at the Urban Circuit event.
Please note that you are still required to submit a letter of intent (LOI) to
participate by the Team Qualification deadline. You are also still required to
qualify any new platforms by the Platform Qualification deadline. Specific
dates for deadlines will be released upon being finalized.
New for the Cave Circuit is the Team Portal which is a centralized way to
capture and maintain all team data such as contact information, team roster
updates, systems enrollment, and Qualification/Letter of Intent (LOI)
information, throughout the remainder of the SubT Challenge.
Please reference the latest version of the SubT Challenge Qualification Guide
for details related to the LOI and Platform Qualification requirements.
Good luck!
The SubT Challenge Team
25th June 2020 — Robotika Cave STIX01
On Saturday June 20th was our first STIX (System Integration Excercise) in
caves. Thanks to starting cooperation with
Speleology Group Tetín we could participate in
the climbing day in Chlum near Srbsko.
The weather was horrible — it was raining already several days, and as I
learned in Chlum weather does matter even in the cave! That was lesson number
one, that caves are always wet (at least here in Bohemia) and the rain water
has to go somewhere. So it is dropping from the ceiling, creating muddy and
slippery surface.
We had very nice shelter — see the pictures from Martin Majer:
It was relatively dry there (when compared to the outside) and we could
exercise basic motion with stones, water, darkness …
The second chapter was excursion into the cave …
Now should come the „lessons learned” and what we will do about it, but it is
late and let's start this blog now and continue later …
p.s. it turned out that in this part of Czech Republic there are plenty of
natural caves, see the list on
http://1-02.speleo.cz/wp/soupis-jeskyni-v-okoli-tetin/
23rd July 2020 — System Cave Circuit was CANCELED!
Bad news. Today I received e-mail from Tim with subject: SubT Challenge
Updates (2020-07-21).
Given current COVID-19 considerations and in the interest of prioritizing
everyone's safety, we have made the difficult decision to forego the Systems
Competition for Cave Circuit.
We recognize and share your team's passion and desire to showcase and
compete all of your hard work since Urban Circuit, and we're eager to continue
creating compelling -- but above all, safe -- environments and experiences to
highlight your innovative technologies. As we set out to challenge your team
to "learn lots, have fun, and be safe," as program manager, I am committed to
your health and well-being as well as that of our global community, and to
being as inclusive and supportive as possible for the entire extended SubT
Challenge family.
We will still host the Cave Circuit for the Virtual Competition, offering
opportunities to accelerate SubT technologies and carrying the energy and
enthusiasm of the Circuits ahead of the Finals Stage of the SubT Challenge.
Thank you for your continued efforts in the Virtual Competition, and congrats
on your three points on the Cave Qualification world. For your awareness, we’ll
soon officially be announcing the full Cave Circuit schedule and details in the
near future.
… so this is it. The next stop is the finals in August 2021, if the world
recovers. Sad, but taking into account the current circumstances, it is
unfortunately not surprise. We will see if Robotika team can be enough
self-motivated to move on in cave environments. The focus will now shift to
Virtual Cave Circuit. The
official DARPA announcements are typically on Friday, i.e. tomorrow. My guess
is that Virtual will be held on October 2020 … but that will continue in
different blog …
p.s. yes, there are several new drones developed for System Cave Circuit, but
hopefully we will see them in action on Robotour
2020.
9th December 2020 — Cave Environment Preview
DARPA presented yesterday original cave preview, as it was planned for the last
summer, but had to be canceled due to COVID-19 situation. It was part of SubT
Challenge Competitors Summit - Technical Workshop & Entrepreneurs Day -
December 8-9, 2020. Enjoy!
