2012 Sumo Competition

When:  April 19, 2012 (This is one week earlier than the originally announced time.)

Where to Ship: University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, IA.  For detailed instructions on how to ship, please see the registration form, available at the VERY BOTTOM of this page.

Cost:  $20 registration fee to cover cost of return shipping.

Contact information:  You may reach the ‘local arrangements chair’ at dale.olson@uni.edu.

NEW THIS YEAR: 

     We will return the $20 registration fee for any sumo that finishes in the top three of the competition.

WHY YOU SHOULD PARTICIPATE

     This will be a ‘rich venue’ with many interesting robots competing.  This year 26 students are building.  We will have many ‘conventional Mark III’s’ with New Micros microcontrollers.  Also, we will have our first Arduino controlled Mark III, and we intend to have a student-built bipedal robot. We may field a four-wheeled robot patterned after ExSpurt (Rick Brooks).  And we hope for the return of defending champion, Gizmo, built by UNI student Kevin O'Connor.

     We have a six-year record of successfully handling and returning received robots.  If you ship, we will follow your written instructions, we will handle your robot with great care, and we will purchase insurance to cover your robot against damage during the return trip.

     The 2012 competition, again, will be live on the internet, a great chance for you to obtain a video record of your robot in action to share with your friends.

WHEN SHOULD YOU SHIP?

     So that we have time to carefully unpack your sumo, and become familiar with the operating instructions (and identify a suitable operator), we would like to have all visiting robots arrive by April 12 (Thursday).  This is the day of the student 'practice competition.' Ideally, students can have the opportunity to view the robots against which they will compete. Note:  We do not 'run' any of the visiting robots during the practice competition. Prior to final competition, visiting robots are operated only for the time needed by the host operator to be confident that all operating procedures are well understood.