Participating in Micromouse

APEC 2009 will be hosting its Twenty-Third annual MicroMouse contest at Marriott Wardman Park in Washington, DC. The contest will commence on the evening of Monday, February 16 starting at approximately 8:00 PM. It is not necessary for contestants to register for the conference in order to compete.

Enter the Twenty-Third annual APEC Micromouse contest or join us as a spectator for this exciting event. Participants design, build, and program robotic mice and compete to see who can navigate their way through the maze in the shortest time. The picture below shows a recent contest in Japan.

MicroMouse Contest

A typical entry has a pair of motors for propulsion, a battery for energy storage, infra-red sensors to detect walls, and a microprocessor for intelligence. These are illustrated in the picture below.

MicroMouse Example

Click on the picture below to download a video of the high-speed run of one of the top mice at a recent contest in Japan.

The contest will be held on the evening of Monday, February 16, starting at approximately 8:00 PM. It is not necessary for contestants to register for the conference in order to compete.

The rules for the contest use a scoring system with a penalty for the time taken to map and run the maze, and a bonus for not touching the mouse. They are similar to those used at the IEE World Final held in London in 1987 except that the touch penalty has been reduced from 10 seconds to 3 seconds. The time for each contestant has also been reduced from 15 to 10 minutes. Within this time limit, the Micromouse may make up to 10 runs.

Click the link below for a complete copy of the APEC MicroMouse Contest Rules:

APEC Micromouse Rules 20.61 Kb

Trophies and a cash prizes will be awarded in the following categories:

$500 first place (based on score)
$250 second place (based on score)
$125 third place (based on score)
$500 best student (based on score)
$150 fastest run (based on run time)

In addition all pre-registered mice that finish will receive a customized certificate.

Click the link below for the results of last year’s contest.

APEC ’08 Contest Report 46.6 Kb

If you would like to register for the contest at APEC 2009, or have any additional questions, please contact the APEC Micromouse Chair. Inquiries can also be directed to the APEC 2009 Offices.

< Prev		Next >