Introduction to LEGO MINDSTORMS Robotic Sumo - How Is Robotic Sumo Played?
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What happens in robotic sumo isn’t much like the robotic mayhem portrayed on TV shows. First, robotic sumo events usually don’t take place in surroundings such as those seen in “warrior robot” TV shows. Instead, you’ll find them in a variety of other places—some you can probably guess, others might surprise you. For instance, you can find robotic sumo events in someone’s living room, the middle of a RadioShack, and at scientifically or technically inclined museums.
There’s a lot of variety in where a robotic sumo event can be held. Likewise, there’s variety in how a robotic sumo event is operated. However, it’s not difficult to describe a basic LEGO MINDSTORMS robotic sumo event. First, two sumo-bots are placed—usu-ally facing in opposite directions—in the arena and are started either remotely or with a flick of a bumper or a switch mounted on the sumo-bots. At this point, a round has been initiated. A round will usually last for a period of about 3 minutes, and the host or judge will keep track of the time. Within this round are bouts. Each time one of the sumo-bots is defeated, it’s set back up to start another bout. This continues until the time period for the round has run out.
The arena in which the sumo-bots “play” is circular and measures usually between 3 and 5 feet in diameter. The thick line encircling the arena is for the sumo-bots. Once they’ve detected the line, they know they’ve reached the outermost part of the arena and need to turn around. The size of this line can vary greatly, but it will often be about 2 inches thick. When both sumo-bots are moving around on the arena, they must take great care not to accidentally go over this line and off the arena, because this ends the bout and gives the victory to the sumo-bot still on the arena.
We hope that most of the sumo-bots’ time won’t be spent in accidentally falling off the arena, but maneuvering on the arena. They will scurry all over the surface, reverse or turn around each time they detect the outer line, bump into each other, and possibly use sumo-bot searching techniques until one or both of them gives its opponent a good, direct hit.
Offensive and defensive mechanisms and subassemblies then come into use, and it becomes a matter of pushing, escaping, or smartness—whether in the construction or programming. Once the unfortunate one has been pushed off the arena, the victorious sumo-bot is awarded his hard-earned point(s), and the two bots are set back up for another bout, if their 3-minute round hasn’t run out.
How many rounds a sumo-bot will go through and how long an event will take depend on two factors: the number of people participating and the rules. Obviously, an event with a lot of people will take longer than an event with only a handful of people. However, you could have a rule for a small event that states that every sumo-bot goes through 10 rounds, which makes for a long event.
As you can see from this description, robotic sumo is a harmless game. But it isn’t a predictable, easy, or simple game. Robotic sumo relies heavily on strategy, and there’s a lot more to it than there seems at first glance. You’ll see this for yourself as you work through the rest of the book. And just one object—something you can’t really touch but can only see—controls all the aspects of robotic sumo we have just discussed, as well as many others I haven’t yet mentioned. That object is a rule set.
A rule set is a compilation of all the rules for an event, and every aspect of the event revolves around that rule set. This is why, in order to participate in robotic sumo correctly and efficiently, you must thoroughly know the rule set for the event in which you are participating. In addition, you must also have a sound knowledge of the tools— what you’ll use to build and program your sumo-bot. The materials that you are allowed to use in your sumo-bot’s construction are nearly as important. Let’s take a look at some common rules first, and then we’ll cover building and programming tools.
 This chapter is from Competitive MINDSTORMS: A Complete Guide to Robotic Sumo Using LEGO MINDSTORMS, by David Perdue (Apress, 2004, ISBN: 1590593758). Check it out at your favorite bookstore today. Buy this book now. |
Next: Rules of the Game >>
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