[robocup-small] Proposal for energy budget

[David M. Chelberg]

In message <OFEF8C1D19.99873AEE-ON4825707D.003116D7-4825707D.0032FC7C at np.edu.sg
>, Beng Kiat Ng writes:

>Giving extra energy to heavier robot is going to be difficult to implement.
>I rather specify a practical minimum robot weight. As for higher power CPU
>and more sensors etc, well you just have to cut them down. 

I think this is one of the biggest problem I've seen with this
proposal.  I strongly disagree that we should in any way limit the
move towards more CPU and sensors on-board.  I feel just the exact
opposite.  If we are to move towards the goal of autonomous robots
playing soccer, then we should encourage teams who try to meet this
goal by putting more of their intelligence and sensing on the robots.
I feel these are extremely interesting research areas, and should not
be limited.

I would like to see us move towards having all the intelligence
on-board in the next couple of years.  The only thing that must
currently be off-robot is the vision (assuming we stay with global
vision).  The ref-box can send wireless signals to the robots as in
the MSL.  This would give teams the additional challenge of trading
the power used for CPU (intelligence) vs. the power needed for
locomotion.

>I think if we were to make our robots simpler and lower cost, then
>the SSL can once again claim to be a low cost entry league for
>RoboCup. In this way, we can stay relevant for a longer time.

If we had a standard vision server, then we could both enforce the
above rule (all computation on-board), as well as keep the league an
easier entry point.  Although then we have the problem of maintaining
the standard vision server code and hardware.

>
>I also in favour of having a separate unlimited battery source for
>non-actuator (CPU, sensor etc) use only. But I think it would be quite
>difficult to enforce.

This might be a solution, but then it limits the designs possible by
requiring separate power sources for all teams.

Sincerely,

 -- Prof. David Chelberg (chelberg at ohiou.edu)
    Team Leader RoboCats (Ohio University)