Students are required to design, build, and program a robot to find and assist victims in a disaster area. The victims are trapped in a building represented by the competition maze.
A disaster has occurred and people are trapped within a damaged building. It is too dangerous for human to enter. A Rescue mission is necessary.
A fully autonomous robot needs to be sent into the hazardous maze to locate victims so that the humans know where they are.
As well as locating the victim the robot can also deliver a rescue package (of the students design) that will assist the victims until they can be rescued.
The robots need to be able to handle the debris and obstacles they encounter including holes in the floor, steps and ramps. The challenge changes every round so your robot needs to be versatile and reliable!
Most teams start with LEGO Mindstorms kits to build and program their robots. Other students select alternative platforms and even build their own microprocessor robots from basic electronic components.
A range of sensors can be attached to all of these platforms, including electronic compasses, sonars, light sensors, infrared sensors, and cameras. The software can be extended to include real time mapping of the environment so that search patterns can be optimised.
The Rescue Maze challenge is open to all RoboCup Junior age groups and all platforms and software.
There are two divisions of Rescue Maze, our entry level divison, Mighty Maisy Maze, and our more advanced division, Open Maze.
The Rules have been developed to ensure that all types of robots and experience levels can be competitive. While an advanced solution may be theoretically capable of earning more points the dynamic nature of the challenge may reward a less complex, more reliable robot.
The maze is constructed using reams of A4 paper on their long side for the walls on a white or light coloured table, or using the Open Maze wooden walls.
The Entry/Exit point is a silver square. The robot needs to leave the entry point, explore the maze finding victims (red or green squares) and return to the entry point.
There may be black squares (holes) located within the maze, which should be avoided.
The materials needed to make a course should be easily available at no cost, being just reams of A4 paper for the walls.
The markers can be created by printing out the following document and using aluminium foil for the silver square and either black card or black printed onto card for the black square.
Mighty Maisy Maze Course Instructions
The maze is constructed using 300mm square elements with zero, 1, 2 or 3 walls in various positions.
Entry points are colour coded (drop-in squares) and each maze can have up to 4 entry points, one of which will be assigned to the robot just prior t0 the start of the round.
Black squares (holes), silver squares (checkpoints) are located within the maze.
The materials needed to make a field are low-cost and easily found at your local hardware store. Here is a cutting list for the full competition maze including ramp and stairs.
Maze Full Field Cutting Layout
There is also a Cutting List for an individual training set with a reduced number of elements excluding the ramp and stairs
The victims are very easy to make. The competition mazes use the following components
Please see the following articles which explain the new Flat Pack Maze Design as well as the new design and victims for both the flat pack maze design, which uses 3mm walls, as well as the original design with its 9mm ply walls.
Make sure you read the latest rules for this challenge. These rules can change from year-to-year.
Check out our Getting Started section for tutorials and more information about how to start making your rescue maze robots!
Modern Teaching Aids supplies many of the kits and parts you may need to construct a LEGO robot.
