Robot Sumo is Real Sumo...
 

I know it isn't going to happen, but I can tell you first hand* and also from watching this video of the All Japan Robot Sumo tournament that a straight up robot pushing match can be a lot of fun. It does not have to be violent to be fun. I am not saying we should have a robot-cage-match with saws, etc.

I don't know how to put it into a FIRST enviroment, but there may be some elements of a robot sumo match that we could learn from.

I really recommend the video. Very cool.

Joe J.

*Robotic Amusment's first product is called Robo-Basho(TM) a 3 way robot king-of-the-hill game. It is really fun.

Re: Robot Sumo is Real Sumo...
 

wow cool video...those robots are so fast and manuverable. We really could take some advice from the designs and stratigies of them. I especially like when they jump over each other or when they jump over one another and they both get knocked off (3:00)

Re: Robot Sumo is Real Sumo...
 

That is some insane speed, I've never seen anything quite like it. Imagine what 2003 would have been like if the robots were designed like these. That'd be a spectator game!

Re: Robot Sumo is Real Sumo...
 

It would be impossible to follow. lol

Imagine trying to stay on the ramp with robots flying around like that.

Re: Robot Sumo is Real Sumo...
 

Something like this? It might have been hard, but dang, it would have been exciting!

Re: Robot Sumo is Real Sumo...
 

What if you took old parts from past years and made some robots. You could make rules about their size and weight. Let's say a foot print of 12" by 12" or 30 cm by 30 cm, with a height limit of 10 in or 25 cm and a weight limit of 20-25 lbs or the equivalent in metric units. The circle could be 8-10 feet in Dia. You could have bigger robots and arenas for different weight classes, and have two ways of playing, one human controlled and the other autonomous with their sensors guiding them. This might be a good way to start new FRC and/or Vex teams. A couple of us should start designing it right now, and maybe by this time next year, we could have a finished product for everyone to enjoy! :D

Re: Robot Sumo is Real Sumo...
 

Sounds like a great idea! I think I'll look at our old motors that we can't use as spare parts and see what I come up with. 25lbs seems a little light if you include a drill battery to power it and Victors for control. Maybe 25-35 minus battery?

Re: Robot Sumo is Real Sumo...
 

Did anyone else read the interview beneath the video clip?
About half of those robots are fully autonomous, and many more a partially autonomous and partially RC. Many are capable of sensing the silver ring around the edge, other robots, etc. Some even have complicated "feints" and other moves built in to gain a strategic edge! Now THAT's the kind of autonomous behavior (reactionary autonomous programming that is) I want to see in FIRST!

Re: Robot Sumo is Real Sumo...
 

If you have any influence, please use it to encourage the GDC to devise the next FRC game so that it favors robots that can perform some simple autonomous reaction to a game element or to another robot. :)

I don't have a good idea right now of how to do that. :confused:

Maybe something involving accelerometers built into the bumpers, so that robots would react like parts of a pinball machine?

Re: Robot Sumo is Real Sumo...
 

We could just use some IR sensors to detect a very close object, or we could equip robots with force sensors attached to bumpers.

That was impressive to watch, and the interviews were insightful. I definetly want to know how they can make an autonomous robot drive full speed like that then stop on a dime before it files off the edge of the arena.

Re: Robot Sumo is Real Sumo...
 

Single Line Detecting Sensors detect the edge and really grippy utherane wheels sure help. :)
I'm surprised this is the first time this has come up on CD. I got interested in this 2 years ago and got one of the kits online at lynxmotion.com, but then got really busy and totally forgot about it. Seeing the video posted by Joe Johnson sorta rekindled that and I ordered a microcontroller and some sensors. A sumo competition at an offseason or as an unofficial event at a regional or even nats would be pretty cool.

Re: Robot Sumo is Real Sumo...
 

I meant I was surprised they didn't get carried off just from momentum. I wonder if some might use a braking system to stop so quickly?

Re: Robot Sumo is Real Sumo...
 

Oh haha sorry, I didn't fully understand what you were saying before, my bad. They have some pretty grippy wheels and torquey motors, and it's only 6 pounds, so it shouldn't have too much inertia/momentum. I'm not exaclty sure though about the calculations how much of a distance it will take to stop from full speed, but it doesn't seem to be much from the vids.

Re: Robot Sumo is Real Sumo...
 

Many??? More like all of the robots are capable of sensing the outer ring of the arena. It's pretty much the only neccessary sensor needed to compete in this type of event. Otherwise they'd just walk off the end of the ring.

Re: Robot Sumo is Real Sumo...
 

Well, sensing the other robots seemed pretty essential, especially when trying to launch an offensive maneuver.