Participating in Micromouse

APEC 2012 will be hosting its Twenty-Sixth annual Micromouse contest at the Disney Coronado Springs Resort in Orlando, Florida. The contest will take place on the evening of Monday, February 6 starting at approximately 8:00 PM. It is not necessary for contestants to register for the conference in order to compete.

Enter the Twenty-Sixth 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 was taken during preparations for last year’s contest in Fort Worth, TX. (photos courtesy of Peter Harrison)

2010_micromouse1

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

2010_micromouse2

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 2 seconds. The time for each contestant has also been reduced from 15 to 7 minutes. Within this time limit, the Micromouse may make up to 7 runs.

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

APEC Micromouse Rules 26 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 ’11 Contest Report 43 Kb

If you would like to register for the contest at APEC 2012, or have any additional questions, please contact the APEC Micromouse Chair. Inquiries can also be directed to the APEC 2012 Offices.

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