Food Handling Challenge

Competition overview

Each team will drive a UR robot manipulator to pick food samples on a table and place them into a neighboring container.

competition setup
team
Each team is composed of 1 through 3 students．The budget for each team should be within 30,000 yen.
UR manipulator
One UR manipulator is commonly used for all teams. We will have a lecture how to use the manipulator.
gripper
Participants can use any grippers developed by themselves including the ones they are using for their research project. Any new ideas are welcome.
attaching a gripper to the manipulator
We provide CAD drawing of the hand interface of the UR robot manipulator to attach the fabricated gripper to the UR manipulator.

Rules

robot
It is OK to program the robot based on teaching.
It is OK to manually control the gripper.
The manipulator motion speed must be set as 100% during the competition. However, for safety, apply slower speed during practice. Only during the competition, 100% speed should be used.
targets
The handling targets are 10 categories of food samples. Weight of each sample is below 100 g. Refer the cutter mat for the size of the targets. The interval of the lattice is 10 mm. The physical properties, including softness and geometry, of the food samples are very close to the real ones. However, it does not come with oil or moisture like the real ones do.
handling targets（10 food samples）

The initial positions and the picking order of the food targets can be freely determined by the participants.
It is also up to the participants to decide where the targets be placed inside the container.
The participants must pick and place the food targets one by one. It is not allowed to pile up the targets and handle them together.
evaluation
The performance will be scored based on the number of successfully handled food samples.
If more than one teams get the same score, the required time for completing the task will be compared and the shortest time wins the competition.
For the hijiki in the paper cup, it will be considered as handling failure if some higiki drops out from the paper cup.
For other targets except hijiki, it will be considered as handling success if the target is not dropped during the handling process.
Competition flow

To keep social distance, we do not gather all teams together for the competition. Instead, each team will be asked to do their competition at a different time. Please refer to the following flow to perform the competition at the determined day and time.

preparation
  1. Attaching the gripper to the UR manipulator.
  2. Set up the food samples and the container to their desired positions.
  3. Make program for the UR manipulator．
  4. Please finish the preparation with one hour．If one hour is not enough, it is allowed to come earlier than the determined time.
trials
  1. After the "Start" signal being given, the participants can start to run their program.
  2. At the same time, the start time will be recorded
  3. 1After completing the handling tasks of 10 categories of the food targets, finish time will be recorded.
  4. The number of successfully handled targets will be counted. The score and completing time will be calculated.
  5. During the competition, it is not allowed to enter into the operation area of the robot to remove any target after the target dropped. Even though some failed targets may drop, the participants should let the competition continue until the end.
  6. The above flow is considered as one set. Each team can perform 3 sets. In between sets, it is allowed to reset or adjust the position or posture of the targets or make revision to the program. However, the adjustments should not take more than 10 mins.
  7. After finishing all 3 sets, the best score will be given to the team.
Notes

Schedule