The First Robot Olympics. took place in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

on 27–28 September 1990. The event was run by The

Turing Institute The Turing Institute was an artificial intelligence laboratory in Glasgow, Scotland, between 1983 and 1994. The company undertook basic and applied research, working directly with large companies across Europe, the United States and Japan devel ...

at the Sports Centre at the

University of Strathclyde The University of Strathclyde ( gd, Oilthigh Shrath Chluaidh) is a public research university located in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded in 1796 as the Andersonian Institute, it is Glasgow's second-oldest university, having received its royal chart ...

. It featured 68 robots from 12 countries and involved over 2,500 visitors over the two-day period.

Background

During the 1990s

the Turing Institute The Turing Institute was an artificial intelligence laboratory in Glasgow, Scotland, between 1983 and 1994. The company undertook basic and applied research, working directly with large companies across Europe, the United States and Japan deve ...

had been involved in a wide range of robotics activities and had developed links with many leading robotics laboratories as a result of both student exchange and a series of collaborative research projects. The event was conceived and directed by Dr Peter Mowforth, director of the Turing Institute, as an events-based meetup for robot enthusiasts and builders. Although there had been single event competitions and national events for competing robots, this was the first time that such a large, varied and international

Robot Competition A robot competition is an event where the abilities and characteristics of robots may be tested and assessed. Usually they have to beat other robots in order to become the best one. Many competitions are for schools but several competitions with ...

had taken place. Many of the robots that came to the event reflected key research themes that were present at the time. For example, the two-wheeled balancing 'torch carrying' (pre-

Segway The Segway is a two-wheeled, self-balancing personal transporter invented by Dean Kamen and brought to market in 2001 as the Segway HT, subsequently as the Segway PT, and manufactured by Segway Inc. ''HT'' is an initialism for "human transp ...

) robot that opened the event was associated with the institute's work on using machine learning applied to the

inverted pendulum An inverted pendulum is a pendulum that has its center of mass above its pivot point. It is unstable and without additional help will fall over. It can be suspended stably in this inverted position by using a control system to monitor the angle ...

Strathclyde University The University of Strathclyde ( gd, Oilthigh Shrath Chluaidh) is a public research university located in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded in 1796 as the Andersonian Institute, it is Glasgow's second-oldest university, having received its royal chart ...

was an academic associate of and adjacent to the Turing Institute. The university made their sports hall complex available for the two-day event.

Events and results

National medals table

Disqualifications

Four judges supervised the events to ensure 'fair play'. They were: : • Professor Frank Nage, University of Salford : • Professor

Ruzena Bajcsy Ruzena Bajcsy (born 1933 in Bratislava, now Slovakia) is an American engineer and computer scientist who specializes in robotics. She is professor of electrical engineering and computer science at the University of California, Berkeley, where sh ...

, University of Pennsylvania : • Eddie Grant (IEEE Representative, University of Strathclyde) : • Professor Hans P. Moravec, Carnegie Mellon University

Special awards

Several organisions provided special awards for different categories of competition. IEEE Robotics & Automation Society Young Roboticist Award Brian Carr (School pupil), St Patricks High School, Coatbridge, Scotland. ''Awarded £25 book token.''

NatWest Bank National Westminster Bank, commonly known as NatWest, is a major retail and commercial bank in the United Kingdom based in London, England. It was established in 1968 by the merger of National Provincial Bank and Westminster Bank. In 2000, it ...

Prize for Technology Transfer Olaf Beck, Prof. Rodney Brookes & Colin Angle, Massachusetts Institute of Technology MIT, AI Lab, USA ''Awarded with a Caithness Crystal bowl and £200 from

.'' '

Best School Prize' XYBOT Inverkeithing School, Class 7S, Scotland. ''Awarded with a cup and a cheque for £100.'' 'Olympic Champion' YAMABICO from Tsukuba University, Japan. Prize given to Shoji Suzuki. ''Awarded with a Caithness Glass Trophy.''

Photographs

Sponsorship

As well as being organised by The Turing Institute and hosted by the University of Strathclyde, the event had seven main sponsors: *

(London) *

IEEE The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is a 501(c)(3) professional association for electronic engineering and electrical engineering (and associated disciplines) with its corporate office in New York City and its operation ...

(Robotics & Automation Society) *

Scottish Development Agency Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

Stakis Hotels Stakis Hotels was a hotel company in the United Kingdom led by Sir Reo Stakis, headquartered in Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United ...

(Glasgow) *

Caithness Glass Caithness Glass is a Scottish artistic glassware manufacturing company. It was established in Wick, Caithness, Scotland in 1961 by Robin Sinclair, 2nd Viscount Thurso. It was by George Mackie, Baron Mackie of Benshie in 1966. Mackie was chairman ...

Holiday Inn Holiday Inn is an American chain of hotels based in Atlanta, Georgia. and a brand of IHG Hotels & Resorts. The chain was founded in 1952 by Kemmons Wilson, who opened the first location in Memphis, Tennessee that year. The chain was a division ...

(Glasgow) *

British Gas British Gas (trading as Scottish Gas in Scotland) is an energy and home services provider in the United Kingdom. It is the trading name of British Gas Services Limited and British Gas New Heating Limited, both subsidiaries of Centrica. Serving ...

(Olympic Torch and Olympic flame)

References

{{reflist Robotics in the United Kingdom University of Strathclyde 1990 in Scotland 1990s in Glasgow