CQ Junior Robotics Competition

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Primary and secondary schools from across Central Queensland (Mackay to Bundaberg and West to Longreach) are invited to a great day of fun and friendly competition.

CQ Junior Robotics Competition – 2024

Date: 2 August 2024
Time: 10 am - 4 pm
Where: CQUniversity Sport Centre

Registrations are now open to register your teams.

Contacts

Jason Bell, Competition Chair

Phone: +61 (07) 4930 9229
Email: j.bell@cqu.edu.au

Participant Information

Entry

The CQJRC is open to all primary and secondary students within Central Queensland (including as far north as Mackay, as far south as Bundaberg and as far west as Longreach).
Entry is free however participants will need to arrange their own travel to and from the competition.
Participants may enter as individuals or as a team.
Team size is unlimited however small teams (4 persons or less) are recommended in order to ensure that all members get ample opportunity to get fully involved with hands-on participation.

Competition challenges

The competition caters for all students from different age groups and levels and offers three categories – soccer, dance and rescue.

Lightweight Soccer

The soccer competition is based upon a 2430mm x 1820mm playing field pitting two teams of soccer bots against one another. Games are played in 2 x 10-minute halves. Each team consists of two soccer-playing robots and up to four humans. The team that scores the highest number of goals at the end of the game is the winner.

RoboCup Junior Soccer rules and additional information can be found at the RoboCup Junior Australia website.

Note: there will be no separate soccer leagues (Lightweight or Open) – unlike the State and National Competition, CQJRC will run only one soccer league based on the Lightweight rules.

OnStage (dance)

RoboCup Junior OnStage performance challenges teams of students to design, build and program a robot or robots to perform to music. This performance can be in the form of a dance in time with the beat of the music or a theatrical presentation that complements the music. Teams are scored on their performance and their technical interview (including logbook).

RoboCup Junior OnStage rules and additional information can be found on the RoboCup Junior Australia website.

Rescue (line)

A terrible earthquake has hit the city and caused a large chemical storage unit to rupture spilling thousands of litres of toxic chemicals in the centre of the city. There is a person trapped in a sinking rescue capsule (the victim) in the chemical spill. Rescue crews are having trouble entering the city with the amount of rubble around, and rescue from the air has also been ruled out due to the noxious gases rising from the toxic chemicals directly above the spill. It has been decided that the best form of rescue is the deployment of an autonomous robot that can navigate to the scene, rescue the victim and exit the chemical spill.

The Rescue (LINE) challenge includes the option of three categories:

Primary Rescue Line – The robot must navigate to the scene, find and rescue the victim by pushing or dragging (control) the victim out of the chemical spill.
Secondary Rescue Line – The robot must navigate to the chemical spill and rescue the victim by controlling the victim and then manoeuvring and leaving it outside of the chemical spill in its original orientation. The robot must then save itself by exiting the chemical spill via the ‘Spill Access Point’.
Open Rescue Line – The robot must navigate to the chemical spill and remove the correct rescue capsule from the chemical spill and place it in its original orientation safely on the evacuation platform for later collection by an aircrew. The robot must then save itself by exiting the chemical spill via the ‘Spill Access Point’. Rescuing the victim will earn the team points for successful control and rescue.

RoboCup Rescue rules and additional information can be found on the RoboCup Junior Australia website.

Special thanks to RoboCup Junior Australia for providing the rules and category information.

Age groups

The CQJRC has a number of different divisions that cater for various age groups:

Lightweight Soccer

Open to all students studying at a recognised secondary or primary study provider.

OnStage Primary

Restricted to students who are currently enrolled and studying at an approved primary education provider.

OnStage Senior

Restricted to students enrolled and studying at a recognised primary or secondary education provider.

Primary Rescue

Open to students studying at a recognised primary education provider. Note: Team members can compete a number of times whilst they are enrolled at a recognised primary education provider.

Secondary Rescue

Open to all students studying at a recognised secondary education provider. Note: Team members are only eligible to compete for a total of two (2) years in this division after which they must participate in the RoboCup Junior Australia Open Rescue Line division.

Open Rescue

Open to all students studying at a recognised secondary or primary education provider.

Registration

Registrations are now closed for the 2024 competition.

Prizes

Prizes are available to those placing 1st, 2nd and 3rd in each category.

Facilities

The following facilities are available at the competition event:

A dedicated 'student only' preparation area (with tables, chairs and power)
Tiered seating for mentors, parents and spectators
Toilet facilities
A canteen service will be available, with food and drinks available for purchase.

What to bring

Laptops (including power cord and associated accessories)
Robot(s) and associated equipment (e.g. spare parts, batteries, rechargers)
For dance categories - music CD or MP3 files, costumes and props (a computer and speakers will be available to play CDs and MP3 files)
Any personal food and drinks (refreshments also available for purchase).

Please note:

Ensure that your LEGO USB or serial port transmitter is set to 'low'
Under no circumstances is a LEGO Mindstorms remote control allowed at the competition

Platinum National Sponsors

State Sponsor

Central Queensland Sponsors

CQ Junior Robotics competition general information

Mentor information

The CQ Junior Robotics Competition is a community-based educational initiative that shows school aged students just how much fun science, engineering and technology can be!

CQUniversity has hosted this annual event since its inception in 2002. It is a great opportunity to engage with the community and inspire students.

Educational robotics is a relatively new and rich subject incorporating science and technology. It has a multidisciplinary focus across technologies such as computing, mathematics, software programming, electrical and mechanical engineering, artificial intelligence, communication, sensor technology, educational technology, image processing and game theory.

The competition

This is an exciting and engaging competition consisting of different categories such as rescue, soccer and dance. Competing participants are quickly brought into the realities of working with complex and ever-changing real-life environments. They learn to adapt and modify their robotic creations to conform to these dynamic surroundings. In this way, students in the process of constructing and programming robots will impress upon themselves how interesting and exciting science and technology can be.

Schools and individuals travel to Rockhampton each year from throughout the Central Queensland region. The competition requires teamwork and knowledge across many different discipline areas and encourages interaction amongst peers.

Academic staff and enthusiasts provide a safe environment and mentoring role to participants. Many participants have progressed and experienced success at the State and National Championship level competitions.

Role of the mentor

As a mentor, you are responsible for:

The registration of your teams and individual participants
Coordination of your participant's attendance at the event
Training, support and supervision of your participants
Distribution of any prizes to your participants.

Registrations

To register participating individuals and teams from your school, you'll need to complete a simple online registration process. To start, you'll need to login using an existing account or create a new account using your email and password.

Ensure mentors are aware of competition rules and any local variations in place.
Create an account on https://enter.robocupjunior.org.au.
Register teams, which includes participants, relevant categories, team names and participant names.
Ensure any student attending the event, whether as a participant or spectator has media release permission.  If there is any student that are not allow to be in photo’s or have video taken of them, to let organisers know in advance.
Invoicing/payment – please note, with the incredible support of our sponsors, we have been able to offer the CQJRC with free entry. Therefore, no invoicing or payment details are required.

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Rules and Conditions

The CQ Junior Robotics Competition 2024 is open to participants located within the Central Queensland area. The organising committee reserves the right to decline application of team(s) that are deemed from schools not located within the Central Queensland area.
The organising committee and its associate officials reserve the right to amend and modify the rules and other governing regulations that have been previously published without warning in the running, judging, and awarding of marks/scores in all categories of the competition. However, the strictest discretion will be exercised to ensure that any amendments and modifications will not put any participants of the competition at a disadvantage. In case of disputes in any of the events, the Chief Referee's decision is final after consulting with the Organising Committee if required.

RoboCup OnStage rules and additional information can be found at robocupjunior.org.au/onstage.
RoboCup Rescue, Secondary and Open Rescue rules and additional information can be found at robocupjunior.org.au/rescue.
RoboCup Junior Soccer rules and additional information can be found at robocupjunior.org.au/soccer.  Please note that there will be no separate soccer leagues (Novice and Open) - unlike the State and National Competition, CQJRC will run only one soccer league.

Local rule modifications and clarifications

OnStage 2024

There are no novice divisions, ie there is only one primary and one secondary OnStage category.
Within the CQJRC event, we will allow floor coverings in this category.
No Technical description paper or electronic submission will be required for the CQ Junior Robotics Event. Students will be required to attend an interview and conduct a performance. Students may bring documentation, such as a journal or logbook to their interview.
Whilst there are no requirements for any type of electronic submissionsuch asa journal or logbook, it is a good learning practise for students to do this.
3.3.2 – Music is to be supplied as indicated by the organisers of the event. It should be high quality, clearly labelled with the team name, school, title, and contain only the music for the team’s performance on it. Within CQJRC, we prefer that all music be provided on a USB device. If this is not an option, please notify the organisers prior to the competition event.
5.1.2 – There will be no moderation of interview scores based on experience.
7.2.6 – The Performance is to be performed autonomously. Where code is run from a device other than the robot itself, that device must be placed within The Stage and not touched after The Performance has started. CQJRC will allow Teams requiring Bluetooth start to do so, but you must notify judges prior to the performance. Once pressed to begin, they need to place the device on the judge's table during the performance and collect it at the end. This would apply for robots such as Dash or Sphero.

Rescue 2024

Teams – CQJRC will accept single member entry for the rescue category. This event is all about participation, so that will be encouraged more than team size.
Within the Open Rescue Line Category, there will be only one victim to rescue and there will be no "contaminated empty rescue capsules without a victim".
There will be no drop zones implemented for all categories of rescue.
Teams can restart as many times are they like and no penalties (loss of points) will be applied.
If teams get stuck trying to complete a particular tile, after their third attempt (lack of progress), the referee can choose to bypass that tile, but this will mean no points will be gained for the completion of that particular tile.
Teams will also not be required to bring a journal, logbook or design diary, but this is good practice and if any team is considering participating in state or nationalevents, then these items will be required to be produced.
1.2.2 – In the Primary Rescue category, teams don’t have to worry about exiting via the “Spill Access Point”.
2.1 – Within the Rescue Line Tiles, CQJRC will only be using titles based on the "official RoboCupJunior Australia Practice Rescue Mat, which can be obtained from Modern Teaching Aids and the "Gridlock" tile will not be in use. Version 2 – small tiles from MTA will not be in use. There will also be no debris used, but the water tower obstacle will again be used this year.
4.1.1 – No requirement for any type of electronic submission, such as a journal or logbook. That said, it is a good learning practise for students to do this.
4.2 – No student interviews for the robot rescue category will occur.
4.3 and 4.4 – There will be no Journal, Logbook to technical description paper required for the CQJRC event. Having said that, it is a good idea to record notes and if you plan on participating in the state or national event, then you will need this accompanying documentation.
6.6.6 – There will be no loss of points for a lack of progress.
6.7.5 – The worst trial result will be removed for the total results, when determining the participants for the finals. This may change if only 4 trial runs occur.
No points when exiting the spill access point for Primary Rescue Exit Point – With regards to rule "6.6.3" – Primary Rescue Teams will not be awarded any additional points for fully exiting the Chemical Spill via the Spill Access, as a local variation will be in place for this rule.

Soccer 2024

Within CQJRC, we will only be playing the Lightweight category using the "infrared ball".
The duration of the game will involve 2 x 10 minute halves.
The CQJRC soccer fields are painted black inside each goal area and not cyan or yellow.
There is no requirement to decorate or colour each of the robots to identify which team they belong to, but teams are more welcome to do this if they want to give their robot's some flair.
Log books for the soccer category do not need to be submitted to the event organisers, but participants may be required at any stage of competing to be asked to prove that the robot being used is the student's work (i.e. the students did the building and programming themselves).
No requirement for any type of electronic submission.
No student interviews for the robot soccer category will occur.
Students may be questioned by the officials to confirm the robot was designed and built by the students.
5.5.2 states that a penalty goal will be awarded if a ball deemed to be traveling into the goal strikes a defensive robot that has some part of it over the goal line and in the "in goal" area. For the CQ junior competition, this rule will be ignored, but if a robot is deemed “stuck” in the goal area, it will be asked to be move within giving the defending team an advantage and if it keeps going into the goal area, it will be considered a damaged robot and removed (for 1 minute or until a goal is scored).
5.7.1.6 – To make this category simpler, as many of the teams are fairly new to this category, we ignore this rule and simply let the robots move around the field.
5.9 Ball Out of play – as soon as the ball has fully crossed the white line (not just touching it), the ball will be moved to the nearest neutral spot.
5.15.1 – The CQJRC event will use the following scoring system. This encourages everyone to have a go, regardless on how good or badly a team's robots perform:
- 3 points for a win
- 2 points for a draw
- 1 point for a loss
- 0 points for a no show / forfeit

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