1Jacky Baltes,  2Meng-Cheng Lau, 3Karla Anhel Camarillo Gomez and 4Kuo-Yang Tu

1Educational Robotics Center

Department of Electrical Engineering

National Taiwan Normal University

Taipei, 10610, Taiwan

jacky.baltes@ntnu.edu.tw

2School of Engineering and Computer Science

Laurentian University

Sudbury, ON P3E 2C6, Canada

mclau@laurentian.ca  

3Departament of Mechanical Engineering

Robotics and Biomechanical Systems

Tecnológico Nacional de México en Celaya

Celaya, Guanajuato, 38010, Mexico

karla.camarillo@itcelaya.edu.mx

4 Graduate Program in

Intelligent Automation Systems,

Department of Institute of Electrical Engineering

National Kaohsiung University of Science & Technology

Kaohsiung, 811, Taiwan

tuky@nkust.edu.tw

Abstract

The following rules and regulations govern the spartan race event of 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 on the HuroCup Facebook Page.

Changes to the Spartan Race rules of HuroCup

In 2025, the Spartan Race event will feature updated challenges, with wall climbing and a secret mission replacing the traditional ladder and rope tasks. Please refer to [SR-1.9] to [SR-1.13]

Spartan Race

The goal of this competition is to provide an event for the research of enhancing the mobility of humanoid robots. Thus, the design of the playing field is aimed at enabling humanoid robots to use active balancing, push recovery, complex motion planning, coordination, and execution to increase their range of usable motions. The playing field includes three sections: uneven terrain, climbing wall, and secret mission. The robot may start at any section. The robot that can score the highest points is declared the winner.

HuroCup Spartan Race - Laws of the Game

The following laws describe the specifics of the spartan race event. For general specifications relevant to all HuroCup events (e.g., robot dimensions, playing field and lighting, the responsibility of the referees) please refer to General - HuroCup Laws of the Game.

[SR-1]: Field of Play

[SR-1.0]: The playing field is divided into three sections: uneven terrain, wall, and secret mission.  

[SR-1.1]: The uneven terrain is allocated in the middle of a region with a minimum dimension of 1.8m by 1.8m. See Figure Uneven Terrain.

[SR-1.2]: The uneven terrain consists of sheets of hard material such as corrugated plastic, corrugated cardboard, or wood.

[SR-1.3]: The length of the uneven terrain is approximately $L.

[SR-1.4]: The width of the uneven terrain is approximately $W.

[SR-1.5]: The thickness of a single sheet is $H.

[SR-1.6]: The uneven terrain is constructed by placing random cut-outs of the sheets on top of each other. The cut-outs may contain holes.  The exact shape of the uneven terrain is determined by the local organizing chair.

[SR-1.7]: Several coins or washers of diameter $CD will be placed at random on the playing field. The thickness of the coins or washers is less than $CT.

[SR-1.8]: The sheets are colour-coded, that is, sheets at different heights have different colours as shown in Figure Uneven Terrain.

Wall Climbing and hold

[SR-1.9]:  The playing field for the Wall Climbing and a Secret Mission, replacing the previous wall and secret mission field, is at least 200 cm by 200 cm as shown in Figure above. The climbing wall’s surface may resemble a pegboard or grip wall structure, similar to indoor rock climbing facilities.

[SR-1.10]: A vertical wall (90 degrees to the floor) equipped with colored climbing holds (e.g., red) shall be installed. Robots must attempt to climb vertically using the climbing holds as hand or foot placements.

[SR-1.11]: The wall dimension shall remain $WC by $HC for all categories.

[SR-1.12]: The holds of the climbing wall are unevenly spaced. Holds shall be spaced $LH apart for all categories.

[SR-1.13]: Details of the Secret Mission shall be defined by the local organizing chair and remain undisclosed until the first day of the competition. The mission will involve problem-solving or navigation-based challenges to test robot adaptability.

[SR-2]: Number of Robots

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

[SR-3]: The Players

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

[SR-4]: The Referee

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

[SR-5]: The Assistant Referee

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

[SR-6]: Game Play

[SR-6.1]: A single robot is designated the runner. All other robots must be outside of the playing field.

[SR-6.2]: The only robot allowed to move during a run is the designated runner.

[SR-6.3]: The runner will be placed at the start location. The start location is approximately 50cm from the edge of the uneven terrain, wall, and secret mission fields.

[SR-6.4]: If a robot fails during any part of the competition, the team can reset the robot and restart from the start location.

[SR-6.5]: The referee will signal the start of the competition by blowing the whistle.

[SR-6.6]: After the referee gives the start signal, the robot can move to either uneven terrain, wall, or secret mission field.

[SR-6.7]: The robot can score 1 point by climbing to each sheet on uneven terrain in a stable configuration.

[SR-6.8]: Once the robot has successfully reached the highest point on the uneven terrain, it can score 1 point by descending each sheet of the uneven terrain. The robot has left the uneven terrain if both feet touch the ground outside of the uneven terrain.

[SR-6.9]: The robot is not allowed to fall while walking on uneven terrain. The only parts of the robot that are allowed to touch the ground are its feet.

[SR-6.10]: To score points in the Wall Climbing, the robot must lift itself off the ground and climb using the climbing holds.

[SR-6.11]: The maximum height achieved during a stable configuration is recorded. A robot is in a stable configuration if it remains stationary without falling for at least 3 seconds.

[SR-6.12]: Points are awarded based on the vertical distance from the lowest foot of the robot to the ground: 1 point for each full 10 cm achieved. Example: 18 cm = 1 point, 20 cm = 2 points, 35 cm = 3 points, etc.

[SR-6.13]: Secret Mission scoring is based on the completeness of the robot's performance in the challenge task. The maximum number of points will be determined by the complexity of the task and announced prior to the event. A robot that fails to initiate or complete any part of the mission will receive 0 points for this segment.

[SR-6.14]: Each robot may have at most one human handler associated with it.

[SR-6.15]: The human handlers are not allowed to interfere in any way with other robots, the referee, or other human handlers. A human handler may only enter the playing field or touch his/her robot with the permission of the referee.

[SR-6.16]: The end of the competition is signalled by the referee blowing the whistle a second time. The referee terminates the competition if

1. the robot leaves the uneven terrain before reaching the highest spot.
2. the maximum duration of the competition (5 minutes) has elapsed,
3. the robot has not progressed in the climb for more than 1 minute.
4. the robot was unable to reach the highest spot and then leave the field within 5 minutes,

[SR-6.17]: At the end of the run, another robot will be designated the runner.

[SR-7]: Fouls and Misconduct

[SR-7.1]: The robot does not step directly onto the uneven terrain at the start of the run.

[SR-7.2]: The robot leaves the playing field without stepping onto the highest point first.

[SR-7.3]: The robot handler touches the robot without the permission of the referee.

[SR-7.4]: Any infractions as listed by General - HuroCup Laws of the Game as far as they are applicable in this event.

[SR-7.5]: Any team that commits one of the infractions listed in this section will be penalized by having the run declared invalid.

[SR-8]: Method of Scoring

[SR-8.1]: Any robot that has not scored at least 1 point will automatically be awarded no rank and 0 points.

[SR-8.3]: Within a round, if two or more robots have the same number of points, the time to reach the highest position at uneven terrain will be used as a tiebreaker followed by the times of reaching the top of the wall.

[SR-8.4]: For more details about the point allocation, please refer to Point Allocation [Organization - HuroCup Laws of the Game].

[SR-9]: Tiebreaker

[SR-9.1]: In case two or more robots have the same number of points after all rounds in the spartan race event, the sum of the successful tries will be used as a tiebreaker.

[SR-9.2]: 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 number of successful runs in a single round will be used as the tiebreaker.

[SR-9.3]: In case two or more robots are still tied after applying the previous tiebreaker, the following criteria shall be used in order as tiebreakers: the time to reach the highest position on the uneven terrain, the time to reach the highest point on the wall in the wall climbing challenge, and then the completion time of the secret mission (if applicable).