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Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...

, the Duke Annual Robo-Climb Competition (DARC) challenges students to create innovative wall-climbing

robot A robot is a machine—especially one programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the control may be embedded within. Robots may be c ...

s that can ascend vertical surfaces. The competition, which will be held on Duke's campus in

Durham, North Carolina Durham ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Durham County, North Carolina, Durham County. Small portions of the city limits extend into Orange County, North Carolina, Orange County and Wake County, North Carol ...

, will allow students to showcase their wall-climbing technology in an international forum and encourage students to network with industry leaders.

General Guidelines

The rules for design are very flexible in order to generate maximum technological creativity. The competition will evaluate each

’s performance in climbing a wall constructed of different materials and obstacles of various dimensions. Each student group will have an opportunity to practice with the wall prior to the competition.

Judge A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility an ...

s will score each

in five functional areas: utility, navigation, versatility, speed, and innovation. The functional areas will specifically measure the robot's ability to complete the following tasks: *

Utility As a topic of economics, utility is used to model worth or value. Its usage has evolved significantly over time. The term was introduced initially as a measure of pleasure or happiness as part of the theory of utilitarianism by moral philosopher ...

: Carry a load in proportion to its own body weight. *

Navigation Navigation is a field of study that focuses on the process of monitoring and controlling the movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another.Bowditch, 2003:799. The field of navigation includes four general categories: land navigation, ...

: Climb the full length of the wall without touching obstacles on the wall. *Versatility: Climb up surfaces composed of different materials and constructed in various shapes and sizes. *

Speed In everyday use and in kinematics, the speed (commonly referred to as ''v'') of an object is the magnitude of the change of its position over time or the magnitude of the change of its position per unit of time; it is thus a scalar quanti ...

: Climb up the full length of the wall from bottom to top in any manner as quickly as possible. *

Innovation Innovation is the practical implementation of ideas that result in the introduction of new goods or services or improvement in offering goods or services. ISO TC 279 in the standard ISO 56000:2020 defines innovation as "a new or changed entity ...

: Demonstrate unique capabilities, innovative use of technology, general creativity, or style.

The Wall

The wall, as depicted in below, will be used to test the

’s performance in

navigation Navigation is a field of study that focuses on the process of monitoring and controlling the movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another.Bowditch, 2003:799. The field of navigation includes four general categories: land navigation, ...

, versatility, and

speed In everyday use and in kinematics, the speed (commonly referred to as ''v'') of an object is the magnitude of the change of its position over time or the magnitude of the change of its position per unit of time; it is thus a scalar quanti ...

. (The

utility As a topic of economics, utility is used to model worth or value. Its usage has evolved significantly over time. The term was introduced initially as a measure of pleasure or happiness as part of the theory of utilitarianism by moral philosopher ...

and

innovation Innovation is the practical implementation of ideas that result in the introduction of new goods or services or improvement in offering goods or services. ISO TC 279 in the standard ISO 56000:2020 defines innovation as "a new or changed entity ...

tasks will be performed independently.) The wall measures 9 ft (2.743 m) in height and 8 ft (2.438 m) in width. The wall is made of

ferrous In chemistry, the adjective Ferrous indicates a compound that contains iron(II), meaning iron in its +2 oxidation state, possibly as the divalent cation Fe2+. It is opposed to "ferric" or iron(III), meaning iron in its +3 oxidation state, such a ...

metal plated on plywood, and contains three sections composed of different materials and obstacles. The first section, closest to the floor, contain a wooden ramp surface, two obstacles, and one hole. The second section, in the middle of the wall, contains an

acrylic glass Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) belongs to a group of materials called engineering plastics. It is a transparent thermoplastic. PMMA is also known as acrylic, acrylic glass, as well as by the trade names and brands Crylux, Plexiglas, Acrylite, ...

surface and three obstacles. The third section, at the top of the wall, contains a flat piece of carpet, two obstacles, and a slit.

External links

Duke Annual Robo-Climb Competition
Robotics competitions