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Min7 Micromouse Robot Solves Maze In 3.921 Seconds

Posted by timothy on from the spurious-precision-is-always-fun dept.

An anonymous reader writes with this note about the winner of an annual Micromouse Robot Competition, writing "The current champion is one Ng Bent Kiat, who works at the Ngee Ann Polytechnic focusing on embedded systems and robotics. His skill and knowledge in the field of robotics shows in his winning mouse robot called the Min7. Min7 is the first 4-wheeled robot Ng has created. It weighs just 90 grams and measures 10 x 7.5 x 2.5cm. It has a straight line speed of 3.5m/s and uses a 20MHz Hitachi 2633R processor for a brain. The Micromouse Robot Competition is a two-stage process. The robots first enter the maze and have a chance to map it out. They then get a second timed run where the object is to solve the maze as quickly as possible. Min7 managed to navigate the maze in just 3.921 seconds."

10 of 58 comments (clear)

  1. Misleading Title by Bottles · · Score: 5, Informative

    Mouse solves maze in 1 minute and twenty odd seconds, then navigates through its stored map in three seconds. Watch the two linked videos.

    1. Re:Misleading Title by Forty+Two+Tenfold · · Score: 5, Informative

      m i c e

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      Upward mobility is a slippery slope - the higher you climb the more you show your ass.
  2. Compared to what? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    "just 3.921 seconds" is spectacularly meaningless if no indication of the size of the maze is given.

    1. Re:Compared to what? by gl4ss · · Score: 4, Informative

      there's a video.

      I guess the point is that it's pretty speedy once it has made the map.

      also, it skips some parts of the map(when mapping), so there's some intelligence there..

      but it's not really SCI FI OH WOW WOW. surely makes a nice addition to the cv and piques interest from employers though..

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      world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
    2. Re:Compared to what? by Maddog+Batty · · Score: 3

      It is a standard Micromouse maze which has been around since the late 1970s (what do you mean you haven't heard of it?). 16 x 16 grid 180mm square.

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    3. Re:Compared to what? by tlhIngan · · Score: 3, Insightful

      It's extra meaningless since the robot was allowed to map out the maze ahead of time. You might as well say "robot is capable of moving at x m/s where x = length of path / 3.921 s."

      And extra hard because the faster you go, the greater chance of something mechanical slipping and you'll be crashing into walls.

      It's a 16x16 cell grid, and traversing it quickly means having to move accurately within the grid and hoping your tires don't slip and make you lose your place.

      Oh yeah, you have to turn, too, and turning at speed is just as fun because you can easily lose your spot that way.

      Of course, this mouse is (looking at the web page) probably the 15th or 16th generation robot he's built.

    4. Re:Compared to what? by PMBjornerud · · Score: 3, Insightful

      It's extra meaningless since the robot was allowed to map out the maze ahead of time.

      And the alternative? Introduce an element of blind luck to the competition?

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    5. Re:Compared to what? by artor3 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      The alternative is to test how fast the robots can map the maze, since that's the part that's actually interesting.

  3. Re:all mazes are solvable by Maddog+Batty · · Score: 5, Informative

    Err. No.

    Wall following only works if there is only one possible route to the centre without back tracking. With more than one route (as per these mazes), wall following will cause you to go around in circles and will never solve.

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    wot no sig
  4. The early bird get the worm by ISoldat53 · · Score: 3, Funny

    but the second mouse gets the cheese.