From aaai97-owner@cc.gatech.edu Wed Jun 11 21:09:34 1997
Date: Wed, 11 Jun 1997 17:49:23 -0700 (PDT)
From: Kurt Konolige <konolige@ai.sri.com>
Message-Id: <199706120049.RAA29810@Flakey.AI.SRI.COM>
To: yamauchi@AIC.NRL.Navy.Mil
In-reply-to: <9705281833.AA06305@sun11.aic.nrl.navy.mil> (message from Brian Yamauchi on Wed, 28 May 97 14:33:14 EDT)
Subject: Re: AAAI Competition
cc: konolige@ai.sri.com, aaai97@cc.gatech.edu
Sender: owner-aaai97@cc.gatech.edu
Precedence: bulk
Status: RO

   Date: Wed, 28 May 97 14:33:14 EDT
   From: Brian Yamauchi <yamauchi@AIC.NRL.Navy.Mil>

   Kurt,

	   We're planning to compete in the hors d'oeuvres competition,
   and we have a few questions about the event.

   1) What sort of (non-human) obstacles will be present in the robot
   area?

   2) What sort of lighting is used in the reception area?  We use the
   standard Nomad laser rangefinder, which works well with typical
   fluorescents, but has problems with broad-spectrum lighting.

   3) We plan to have the robot stay within the defined area using dead
   reckoning, but if the robot wanders out anyway, we can bring it back
   using a joystick?  Would there be a penalty for using the joystick?

   4) When the rules say the robot must carry a "standard tray", does
   this mean a "standard-sized" tray, or does it mean that AAAI will be
   providing standardized trays for all robots to use?

   5) We're throwing around a number of different ideas for hors
   d'oeuvres, and we were wondering which, if any, of the following would
   be considered "messy".

   - Sushi
   - Bite-sized chocolates
   - Foil-wrapped bite-sized chocolates

				   Thanks,
				   Brian

Brian, glad to see you'll be participating.  I'll try to answer some
of your questions, and get answers from the AAAI folks to others.

1) You can expect tables, at least, in the reception area; these
should have covers that extend down the sides, but I don't know the
particulars.  We'll try to keep other obstacles to a minimum.

2) Don't know, I'll ask.

3) The rules say you can move it back by "interacting" without
penalty.  Joysticking isn't really interacting...

4) You can bring your own tray, as far as I'm concerned.  In fact it
would probably be best if you did.  But it should be a reasonably
"standard" size.

5) Looks like the snack are going to be provided by AAAI.  I'll send
out more info.

CHeers --Kurt