CIRC 2024 Summer Competition Tasks

Welcome to CIRC 2024! This competition is designed to challenge students to design, build, and operate a rover that can navigate and complete tasks on a simulated Martian surface alongside human settlement. These tasks are intended to be challenging and will require teams to use their problem-solving skills and technical knowledge to succeed. The following task descriptions and guidelines have been established to ensure a fair and safe competition for all participants. Please read through these descriptions carefully to make sure that your design suitable to the tasks at the competition.

For information on the regulations of participating in CIRC, please see the 2024 Summer Rules document.

Task Rubrics and Scoring

Tasks will be scored using a rubric which can be found here. This rubric may change as tasks are developed. This may be useful for planning how to approach each task’s requirements and maximize scored points within the capabilities of the teams’ rovers.

Tasks are expected to be worth 100 points each, however longer tasks may have more points allocated. Most tasks have bonus points available according to the rules, with exceptions to these bonues explained in the specific task descriptions below.

Traversal

Description

A crashed lander has scattered crates of supplies nearby and your rover must survey the area and identify the crates that can be salvaged. Some of the crates have working GPS transponders and others have spilled a trail of glowing debris that leads to the crate.

Requirements

This task takes place during night time when it is dark.
Rovers must travel to different locations and identify the crate of supplies left there.
1. Crates will be marked with an Aruco marker and a human readable marker.
  1. More points will be awarded for correctly identifying the Aruco marker.
  2. The markers will be on the top surface of the crates.
  3. The markers are not illuminated.
2. Some crates will be at GPS locations and some will need to be found with alternative wayfinding techniques.
3. The crates may come in different sizes and shapes. They will all be on the ground.
4. Your rover does not need to pick-up or interact with the crates other than reading the markers.
There are 5 locations.
2 locations will have GPS coordinates.
3 locations have a trail of lights leading to the crate.
1. 1 trail of lights be in the visible spectrum and will be red in colour.
2. 1 trail of lights be in the visible spectrum and will be blue in colour.
3. 1 trail of lights will be in the infrared spectrum.
4. The start location of the light trails is not provided.
5. The length of the light trail is not known.
6. The lights in the trail will be a maximum of 4m apart.
7. The crate will be within 1m of the final light in the trail.
8. The lights will be on the ground.
Some locations will be difficult to reach and may involve obstacle avoidance and may not be within line of sight of the antenna location.
The GPS coordinates will be provided during setup time. The start location is not a GPS coordinate.
Extra points will be awarded to teams who can reach a location autonomously.
To get full points for finding the crates at a location, the human readable marker or the Aruco marker must be visible on a rover camera or sensor. This should be visible to the judge at the base station to be awarded full points.
Some points will be awarded if the camera is manually aimed at the marker and the rover autonomously identifies the code. More points will be awarded if the rover autonomously scans for the marker and identifies the code.
1. Full points will be awarded if the Aruco scanning and detection software is running in the background and automatically displays the correct result when the Aruco marker comes within range and frame of the camera.
This task has some exemptions to the intervention rules regarding the placement of the rover.
1. For the purposes of attempting autonomous navigation, the rover may be freely placed at the start line or within 1m of a waypoint that has already been reached autonomously. The judge should be informed if you wish to attempt this. There will be no intervention penalty for this action.

Precision Infrastructure and Payload Extraction (PIPE)

Description

A lander has crashed, and the current fuel levels are too high to allow humans near it. Rovers are tasked with replacing the fuel offloading system and safely draining fuel from both of the landers fuel tanks, before any of it ignites. The urgency of this task requires two rover teams to perform this changeover. The rovers also need to clear the field of debris.

One team will be assigned the first 60 minutes to remove the damaged fuel offloading system and the other team will have 60 minutes to replace the fuel offloading system. Once 60 minutes have elapsed, the teams will have 5 minutes to move their rover to the other side of the lander and switch to the other task. Teams may perform minor intervention-level work during this period. The judges will use this time to reset the task as needed and notify the teams when the switch is complete.

Requirements

Disconnecting Existing Fuel Offloading System (60 minutes)

Ensure the Rodwell’s pump is turned off (“O”).
Close the ball valve.
Turn off the boost station (“O”).
Disconnect the components and move them to the disposal area
Plug the exposed fuel spout

Note: This part of the task is much easier than the assembly stage, so this may be a good time to clear the field

Replace Fuel Offload System (60 minutes)

Remove the plug from the fuel tank.
Select a pipe in good condition and install by placing the end of the pipe against the marked zone on the tank.
Move the booster station into position, setting the marked zone against the first pipe.
Install the second pipe.
1. Note that the inlet has a physical connection, not a marked zone. The last pipe should be installed over the inlet first, then the second end of the pipe is pivoted into position against the marked zone of the booster.
Open the ball valve and power on the pump (“I”). Set the pump to its pressurized setting and adjust the throttle to 50%.
1. The throttle slider is very small and is located to the right of the pump setting switch.
Turn on the booster (“I”).
With the new pipe now primed, adjust the throttle to 100%.

Pipe Inventory Management

Optional: no additional time granted

Assess the pipes in the area and determine their respective condition: good, minor damage and scrap.
1. Miscategorized pipes will not count toward the score.
Pipes identified with minor damage or scrap should be documented for the next shift.
1. Take clear pictures of the damage and the pipe serial number. Give the information to the next shift (task judges) via USB drive so they know what to look for. The images must be accompanied with a caption ascribing the condition to the serial number.
Move the pipes to the appropriate areas. The areas are intuitively colour- coded.

Field Clean Up

Optional: no additional time granted

Clear the field of assorted debris from the crash. Cleared items must be placed in the disposal area for points.

Notes

Major damage/Scrap on pipes will be catastrophic and obvious that it can’t be repaired.
The ball valve used is a ¼” unit like this.
Rovers must be able to pick up and maneuver lengths of 3 inch diameter PVC pipe (3.25 inch OD), weighed down with additional components. Total weight of the pipe is under 5kgs.
The organizers reserve the right to change the rules and scoring for this task.
Parking is limited to only vehicles carrying equipment to the task.
Rovers will be operating simultaneously and must remain in their designated area
A manual will be provided at the start of the task

Search and Recovery

Description

An important supply drop crashed just short of arriving at the settlement, and based on its heat signature may still be powered on. The damage to the lander is unknown, and damaged power systems pose a risk to any humans who would go investigate.

Your task is to find the downed lander, and retrieve the storage device containing flight diagnostic logs. From the diagnostic logs you will determine the state of the power system, and from there you will remove fuel cells to make the lander safe

Rules

Using the provided rough GPS coordinates of the downed lander, travel to the area and then find the main body of the lander.
Use the lander’s external control panel to power down the command and control computer. The lander interface will consist of:
1. Indicators and buttons
2. Fuel cell array
3. Diagnostic storage unit
Remove the diagnostic storage from the lander.
1. The diagnostic storage will be a standard USB stick (approximately 7 mm x 14 mm x 30mm) and will be coloured orange.
2. The diagnostic storage will be NTFS formatted, with a single file “lander.log” containing diagnostic information.
3. The file will be ASCII formatted, oldest events first, most recent events last, one event per line, less than 4GB in size.
4. Event logs related to power cells will be formatted:
  1. [ISO 8601 Timestamp] [Severity] Cell [Number] Diagnostic [OK/FAIL] [message]
  2. 2023-12-12T23:45:06.3743Z WARN Cell 2 Diagnostic FAIL Short Detected.
The diagnostic storage will contain a description of which fuel cells safely powered down, and which are malfunctioning.
1. You may connect the diagnostic storage to a USB port on your rover.
2. There will also be a USB port available near the task starting point where you may plug in the diagnostic storage to gain access to the log.
3. The diagnostic storage may be plugged into the USB port available near the task starting area by hand by forfeiting the points that could be gained from plugging it in with the rover. The diagnostic storage must still be returned to the task starting area by the rover.
Remove the malfunctioning fuel cells from the lander, ensuring that the installed cells are always part of a balanced configuration.
1. The user manual for the lander can be found here.
Deposit the malfunctioning fuel cells a minimum distance of 20 meters from the lander so that human crew can begin recovery of the lander.

Judge’s Commentary

This year search and recovery will happen during the daytime, and there will be no astronaut to rescue.
You will have to use the documentation about safe balanced configurations to determine in which order to remove the fuel cells.

Arm Dexterity

Description

A Lander carrying crucial medical supplies for supporting the settlement has failed during descent and crashed just outside the landing zone. We are unable to remotely access it, and don’t know exactly what damage has occurred, but we have a Ground Power and Operations (GPO) unit that may be able to enable critical systems on the Lander to extract the cargo.

The GPO and the Lander were originally designed for human operation, however, due to the potentially dangerous conditions at the crash site, we are not able to get close enough ourselves. Another transport robot has already moved the GPO close but it did not have a dexterous arm able to complete the rest of the mission.

Without knowing the state of the lander, we may only have a few hours to retrieve this cargo. It is up to your team to use their rover to complete the task and configure the system to get power for the settlement back online.

Requirements

Extract the crucial supplies from the Lander. This is completed by:
1. Following steps in the instruction manual and instructions given by the GPO Status Panel display to enable the required systems on the Lander.
2. Connecting the GPO to the Lander using the GPO connector.
3. Removing bolts to open the Lander access panel.
4. Returning the up to 10 kg cargo container safely to the starting area. The container may be carried, pulled, or pushed as required.
Avoid damage to the GPO, additional damage to the Lander, or damage to the cargo by avoiding use of excessive force. This includes impacts and other movement greater than 2G acceleration or approximately 100N force impact on the controls or equipment.
Clean up the site by returning any tools or components back to the starting area, so the utility robot can later remove the GPO from the site.

Documentation Provided

Documentation will be provided as it is created in advance of the event.

Instruction manual for operation of the GPO and Lander: (Ground Power Operations Manual) (Email about the Lander)
Diagrams of the GPO Panels (PDF) (DWG) including locations of buttons, switches, and displays.
Diagrams of the Lander (PDF) (DWG) including location of the access panel and GPO receptacle and specification of bolts which must be removed to open the access panel.
Diagrams for use of the GPO connector (PDF) (DWG) to interface with the Lander GPO receptacle.
Diagrams and weights of the provided hand tools
1. GPO Connector (Cable)
2. Hex Wrench

Team-Provided Tools

Teams may bring any other tool into the field at their own discretion. This includes any tools they have created themselves to assist with the task or to assist the rover’s operation, even a compatible GPO Connector. The weight of any additional tools or equipment is included in the total rover weight.
Provided tools must start in the starting area, however any additional tools provided by the team may be placed anywhere in or on the rover or at the starting area at the team’s discretion before the task begins. No team-provided tools may be placed in the task area.
An intervention may be used to re-place tools, including the task’s provided tools, on the rover after the start of the task. This is associated with the normal intervention penalty.

Special Communications Conditions

Due to the proximity of the task site to CIRC Central, the rover may be operated over a cable to the task base station instead of the wireless link as required by other tasks. This is at the discretion of the team and a wireless link is still strongly recommended. This option is provided as a backup should teams find their system sensitive to interference from indoor WiFi.

The distance from the base station to the rover will be under 100m, but no guarantees will be made about how practical this solution may be for driving around the site. Fixing a tangled or detached cable or other similar scenarios will be counted as an Intervention.

The total weight of the cable or any other mechanism also attached to the rover is considered a team-provided tool and will be included in the total rover weight.

GPO Diagnostic Port

A diagnostic port is available on the GPO Diagnostic Panel, will allow the teams to bypass some steps or read diagnostic information more quickly than the display or other status lights. The connector is a 3 pin female connector (specifically, a common “XLR” type found in audio equipment). The signalling is 3.3V TTL serial (115200 bps 8N1) and is compatible with the port used in the 2023 Arm Dexterity Task.

Teams may use a cable or create a wireless device to stay connected to the diagnostic port as they work on other panels. Please be aware:

The port does not supply power.
The connector features a latch which can be disconnected by pushing a tab. A custom connector may omit the mating latch if desired.
1. Disconnecting from the receptacle will not be required to complete the task, but completing the task with all equipment returned to a clean state is worth a small amount of points. See the overall task rubrics for information.
An Example of the diagnostic interface providing data readouts and the ability to apply key settings to speed up the task progression.
Drawings of the connector are fouind in the diagrams of the GPO Panels.

Autonomy Points

Autonomy points will be awarded for automatic completion of individual steps within the task. These steps will be noted in the task rubric. It is not expected to complete the entire task autonomously from start to finish.
Autonomy points will be awarded for three sub-tasks:
1. Automatically identifying and reading an Aruco marker serial number to decode relevant instructions for the task.
  1. The robot must orient itself toward the marker and identify its value without intervention from any member of the the team.
2. Automatically authenticating with the GPO Diagnostics screen without manually positioning or controlling the arm.
  1. The robot must carry out the steps indicated on the diagnostics screen without an operator directly controlling the robot. The operator may position the robot manually as required to begin this step and execute pre-programmed movements.
3. Navigating to and manipulating panels (e.g. press buttons) without manually positioning or controlling the arm or robot.
  1. *As the team may not align the robot to the panel to begin this sub-task, use of computer vision or more complex pre-programmed movements may be required.
The team must inform the task judge when they will attempt autonomous sub-tasks and the judge will determine if rules are properly followed.
Unlimited attempts at autonomy points will be allowed for each sub-task as long as task time is available.
An intervention may not be used to position the rover anywhere except the starting position.
Refer to the provided documentation including diagrams with positions of buttons and controls for planning autonomous steps.

Environmental Assessment

Description

Review of telemetry from the downed lander has indicated that three canisters of kerosene fuel were lost flying over an unexplored area. These canisters contain valuable resources, and may be contaminating a previously pristine environment. They must be located and assessed as soon as possible so recovery and, if necessary, cleanup operations can commence.

Your rover must explore the area and locate the three canisters. The impact site of each canister must be documented for a preliminary environmental impact report. This should include the recording of any disturbances and a test for contamination of the surroundings by the canister’s contents.

A map of the area, including the suspected location at which the canisters were lost, will be provided at the beginning of the competition.

Requirements

Exploration

Explore the area and locate the three missing canisters. The following actions must be undertaken during the survey:
1. Record the route taken using GPS waypoints.
2. Document and photograph any landmarks or navigational hazards in the area. Estimate their location relative to your route.
At each canister:
1. Record the GPS coordinates at the canister.
2. Take a panorama photograph of the canisters location. A minimum of 180^o is required, with 360^o required for full points. Select a point with good visibility from which the canister can be seen. Record the GPS coordinates of the point at which the panorama was taken.
3. Take photographs documenting the canister’s location and surroundings. Note any disturbance to the site.
4. Collect a 5 - 100 g soil sample to check for any contamination of the site by the kerosene. The test must not deposit any foreign materials in the test area. Samples must be kept separate from one another.
5. Return to the starting point with all samples.

Report

Following completion of the rover’s time on the task site, teams will have three hours (starting either when the team leaves the site or when the team’s task time is up, whichever comes first) to perform additional tests on the sample, and write and submit a report of up to 3500 words (excluding references, if present) on their execution of the task and their findings. Reports should be submitted to the judges via the Slack workspace dedicated to the event. The report should be in PDF format. No reports will be accepted after three hours. The report must include:
1. Abstract:
  1. Summarize the situation and the purpose of the report, and provide a high-level overview of the procedure and findings.
2. Search procedure and route:
  1. Provide an explanation of the approach to the survey used by the team. Justify the areas investigated and the route taken.
  2. Show a map of the search area. Indicate on the map the route taken by the rover, the extents of each site, and the locations of any landmarks, navigational hazards, or other features of interest spotted during the survey.
3. Report on sites:
  1. State the GPS coordinates recorded at each canister.
  2. Show the panorama photograph of each site and the GPS coordinates at which they were taken. Indicate the direction from which the site was approached and comment on any visible landmarks.
  3. State the observations at each site. Show the photos taken during the survey and explain their significance.
  4. Describe the sample collected and the exact location from which it was taken.
  5. Explain the methodology of the tests carried out on the sample.
  6. Describe the results of the tests on the sample and their significance.
  7. Describe the route to the selected site. Describe and comment on the non-site-related features noted during the survey.
4. Analysis:
  1. Report on the condition of each canister’s location. Include observations from the field and the results of your tests.
  2. Make suggestions for recovery and remediation operations.

Judge’s Commentary

When writing up your report, please consider the outline of how scientific reports/papers are typically written:
1. Abstract
2. Introduction
3. Methods and Materials
4. Results (sometimes includes discussion)
5. Discussion
6. Conclusion
Please be sure to include your team name in the document name
Teams are free to select multiple sites in close proximity to one another, but will be required to justify how the sites were differentiated (e.g. separated by physical feature of the area, must be approached via different routes, etc.) in their report to receive full points for identifying multiple sites.
Take care when rounding GPS coordinates. Rounding to three decimal places has introduced errors of up to 40 meters in previous events.
Consider multiple possibilities when formulating your approach and recommendations.
Teams are strongly encouraged to submit their report even if they cannot complete the field task. Points will be awarded for all sections of the report that can be completed without data from the field (e.g. the intended exploration route, any observations that could be made from the rover, the intended experiments, recommendations for further study, etc).
Similarly, consider starting the report ahead of time. Aspects that are not dependent on your results and can be completed in advance to free up time before the deadline. Establishing an outline and skeleton can also save time for writing up your results.
Tell the story of the investigation and tests. Link your various sections together.
All metrics, even those that are not met, should be addressed when describing and comparing the sites.
The “why” and “how” are as valuable as the “what” in reports. In addition to describing observations, experiments, or decisions, provide an explanation of their meaning.
Differentiate between what your plan was and what you were able to accomplish.
Be honest about technical difficulties when writing the report. Acknowledge when things didn’t work. If something went wrong with your rover that prevented you from completing the task, please provide a brief explanation of what went wrong
Clearly state what is fact and what is speculation in your report. For example, describing the site as “rich in ironstone” would be accurate only if a sample of the rock was obtained and tested or closely examined by an expert. If this was not done, a team should simply provide a physical description of the rocks, and may add that it resembles ironstone.
Similarly, reports should differentiate between observations that can indicate some features and those that necessitate it. For example, water is a necessary precondition to life as we know it. Thus, identifiable life suggests the presence of water, but the presence of water does not necessarily indicate the presence of life.
Any assumptions made in the report must be stated explicitly.
Remember that this is supposed to be on Mars, so plants won’t grow outside of a climate controlled greenhouse or other suitable growing chamber. Any plants at the site exist only from a navigational standpoint, but not a scientific one..
Similarly, ignore infrastructure surrounding or intersecting the task sites.
Figures must be described in full, either through a descriptive caption or references in the text. Figures without proper description are not useful.
Note that it’s a rover competition, and only observations and data acquired from on board the rover will be awarded points in the field section. The exception to this rule is the experimental portion , which can be carried out away from the rover and recorded by any convenient means.
1. In the event of technical difficulties, other pictures may be used to provide clarity, but will not be considered for observation requirements, only explanation requirements.
Good spelling and grammar are appreciated. If there’s no time to proofread, run the document through the spelling/grammar check before submitting. No penalties are applied, but a well-presented report is more enjoyable to read, and seems more compelling in its arguments.