It is the distant future. Machines rule the stars, and humanity has been enslaved. Driven by logic and reason, the machines conquer entire galaxies with impunity. Yet, they live not in harmony. The very human desire for supremacy is alive and well among the machines, culminating every ten thousand years in the greatest contest the Universe has ever seen, a battle the machines call, "6.270".

The end of another ten thousand year cycle is nearly upon us. Assisted by only the most capable of their human servants, the machines will once again compete for Ultimate Power.

Come serve your robot overlord. Help it to become... MASTER OF THE UNIVERSE !!!

Rules description

Technical Overview

Our robot was powered by three motors on each wheel (i.e. the maximum allowed). The gear box was a pretty fast one (1/45) and we had chosen to use the big wheels (reinforced with glue in the inside). So we probably had one of the fastest robots in the competition (i.e. similar to the 2 finalists). We used a closing door in the front, to catch balls and bring them back to our side; and a solid arm on the top to hit the middle ball when needed.

There were 3 servos on the robot (i.e. the maximum allowed). One controlled the back stiring wheel, a second one closed and opened the front door, and the last one activated the arm. We put a distance sensor on the back wheel. It was used to follow the walls on either side, just by turning the wheel 180 degrees, and had the advantage of being almost at the exact center of the robot (i.e. far enough from the wall for optimal precision). Only two touch sensors were used: one in the front to close the door when the ball had entered the catching area, and one in the back to stop the robot when pulling back into an obstacle.

More details on the competition

Watch a video of our working robot (22 Mb)