Jacky Baltes

Educational Robotics Center

Department of Electrical Engineering

National Taiwan Normal University

Taipei, 10610, Taiwan

jacky.baltes@ntnu.edu.tw

Abstract

The following rules and regulations govern the game of the Climbing Wall event in HuroCup, a robotic game and robotics benchmark problem for humanoid robots.

Latest Version of the Rules for HuroCup

The latest official version of the rules of the game for HuroCup is always available from the HuroCup Facebook Page.

Changes to the Rules of Climbing Wall

To simplify the transition from the ladder to the rope, the rope will extend above the stairs.

HuroCup Climbing Wall - Rules of the Game

The climbing wall challenge aims at fostering research into complex motion planning, coordination, and execution to increase the range of usable motions for humanoid robots. In this event, the goal of the robot is to climb as high as possible within a 5 minute period. The following laws govern the specifics of the climbing wall event.

[CW-1]: Field of Play

The Climbing Wall Playing Field

[CW-1.1]: The dimensions of the playing field are at least 200 cm by 200 cm.

[CW-1.2]: At one end of the playing field, there is a ladder made out of wood or metal or other suitable material.

[CW-1.3]: The width of the ladder is $W. The frame of the ladder is painted in white or black.

[CW-1.4]: The rungs of the ladder are unevenly spaced. The distance between the rungs will be between $RD. The colour of the rungs is red. The centre of each rung is marked with a separate colour.

[CW-1.5]: The ladder is mounted at an angle of approximately $A degrees between the floor and the ladder.

[CW-1.6]: At the end of the ladder a rope is attached. The rope is uniformly coloured. One end of the rope is attached to the bottom of the highest rung and it extends approximately horizontally.

[CW-2]: Number of Robots

[CW-2.1]: A single robot competes in a match.

[CW-3]: The Players

[CW-3.1]: Please refer to General - HuroCup Laws of the Game for detailed information about the players.

[CW-4]: The Referee

[CW-4.1]: Please refer to General - HuroCup Laws of the Game for detailed information about the referee and his or her duties.

[CW-5]: The Assistant Referee

[CW-5.1]: Please refer to General - HuroCup Laws of the Game for detailed information about the assistant referee and his or her duties.

[CW-6]: Game Play

[CW-6.1]: At the beginning of the competition, a single robot is designated the climber and placed at the start position facing the ladder. The start position is the point $SD$ in front of the ladder aligned with its centre.

[CW-6.2]: The referee will signal the start of the competition by blowing the whistle. After the referee blows the whistle, the robot must walk toward the ladder and attempt to climb as high as possible on the ladder. After reaching the top of the ladder, the robot must continue its climb along the rope.

[CW-6.3]: The climbing distance of the robot is defined as the height above ground of the lowest robot part while the robot is in a stable configuration during the climb of the ladder or the maximum height of the ladder plus the distance that the robot was able to traverse on the rope and maintain a stable configuration. The distance along the rope is measured from the closest point of the robot to the center of the top rung of the ladder. A robot is in a stable configuration if it is statically stable for more than 3 seconds.

[CW-6.4]: The human handler is not allowed to interfere in any way with his or her robot, the referee, or other human handlers.

[CW-6.5]: A human handler may only enter the playing field or touch his/her robot with the permission of the referee.

[CW-6.6]: Any robot that either leaves the playing field, falls off during the climb, or breaks down may be removed by a human helper and placed again behind the start point. This is subject -to laws CW-6.4  and CW-6.5.

[CW-6.7]: The referee will signal the end of the competition by blowing the whistle a second time. The referee will blow the whistle when:

1. either the maximum duration of the competition (5 minutes) has elapsed,
2. the robot has not progressed in the climb for more than 1 minute.

[CW-7]: Fouls and Misconducts

[CW-7.1]: A robot is not allowed to use suction cups or other active  mechanisms to improve its climbing performance.

[CW-8]: Special Rules

[CW8-1]: A robot handler is allowed to use a safety line to prevent damage to the robot when falling during the climbing attempt.

[CW-9]: Method of Scoring

[CW-9.1]: Robots are awarded points based on the maximum climbing distance.

1. All robots that have a climbing height of 0 cm are automatically awarded 0 rank and 0 points.
2. Among the robots that have a climbing height of more than 0 cm, the robots are ranked based on the maximum climbing distance.

[CW-9.2]: Robots will be awarded points based on their rank using the point allocation scheme described in Point Allocation [Organization - HuroCup Laws of the Game].

[CW-10]: Tiebreaker

[CW-10.1]: In case two or more robots have the same number of points after all rounds, the sum of the climbing distance in all rounds will be used as tiebreaker.

[CW-10.2]: In case two or more robots have the same number of points after all rounds and are still tied after applying the previous tiebreaker, the maximum distance in a single round will be used as a tiebreaker.