Micromouse

Micromouse maze

Micromouse robot

Micromouse is a competition in which small, autonomous robotic vehicles have to find their way in a labyrinth . Probably the first of these competitions was announced in 1977 by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) in its IEEE Spectrum magazine . Meanwhile, more than 100 micromouse competitions (mostly sponsored by universities or the IEEE) and a. Held in the United States , the United Kingdom and Japan .

regulate

The labyrinth has a square base area of around 3 m × 3 m, with paths in a grid of 16 × 16 squares, each with a side length of 18 cm; the walls are 5 cm high and 1.2 cm thick boards.

The Micromouse robotic vehicles are fully autonomous; that is, they move through the labyrinth without outside help. It is up to the developer how the vehicle recognizes the walls of the labyrinth; common are front-mounted on the vehicle and obliquely outwardly oriented infrared - distance sensors .

A square area consisting of 2 × 2 units in the middle of the maze represents the goal. The robots first start in one of the four outer corners, explore the maze and calculate the shortest path from the starting corner to the goal in the middle, using different solution algorithms are used for mazes . Then they drive through this route in the shortest possible time. Micromouse vehicles can reach speeds of more than 3 meters per second, the fastest of them traveling through a maze in a few seconds.

The “half-size micromouse” variant has existed for several years, in which the dimensions of the paths and grid squares have been reduced by half while maintaining the same labyrinth area. Such a labyrinth is implemented in a grid of 32 × 32 squares, each with a side length of 9 cm.

Individual evidence

↑ The Amazing Micro Mouse Contest. In: IEEE Spectrum. IEEE, April 23, 2014, accessed April 13, 2015 .
^ Micromouse Competition Rules. IEEE, 2013, accessed April 13, 2015 .
^ Meet the New World's Fastest Micromouse Robot. IEEE, November 21, 2011, accessed April 14, 2015 .
↑ Rules for Half-size Micromouse. New Technology Foundation, 2010, accessed April 13, 2015 .

Web links

Commons : Micromouse - collection of images

Videos

Two videos show the two phases: exploring the labyrinth and quickly taking the shortest route

Official competitions

UK Micromouse , competition at Birmingham City University (UK)
All America Micromouse Competition of the University of California, Los Angeles (USA)
California Micromouse (CAMM) , competition from the University of California, San Diego (USA)
Micromouse Robotics Competition from Ohio State University (USA)
Micromouse Contest of the Applied Power Electronics Conference (USA)
New Technology Foundation's All Japan MicroMouse Contest (Japan)

Private project pages

Micromouse USA (USA)
Micromouse Online (UK)
Historical photos at cyberneticzoo.com

[ieee-1] The Amazing Micro Mouse Contest. In: IEEE Spectrum. IEEE, April 23, 2014, accessed April 13, 2015 .

[rules-2] Micromouse Competition Rules. IEEE, 2013, accessed April 13, 2015 .

[fast-3] Meet the New World's Fastest Micromouse Robot. IEEE, November 21, 2011, accessed April 14, 2015 .

[half-size-4] Rules for Half-size Micromouse. New Technology Foundation, 2010, accessed April 13, 2015 .