Micromouse
Encyclopedia
Micromouse is an event where small robot
mice
solve a 16x16 maze
. It began in late 1970s, although there is some indication of events in 1950. Events are held worldwide, and are most popular in the UK
, U.S.
, Japan
, Singapore
, India
and South Korea
.
The maze is made up of a 16 by 16 grid of cells, each 180 mm square with walls 50 mm high. The mice are completely autonomous robot
s that must find their way from a predetermined starting position to the central area of the maze unaided. The mouse will need to keep track of where it is, discover walls as it explores, map out the maze and detect when it has reached the goal. Having reached the goal, the mouse will typically perform additional searches of the maze until it has found an optimal route from the start to the center. Once the optimal route has been found, the mouse will run that route in the shortest possible time.
Mice can run at up to three meters per second, with current world records around 6~7 seconds, depending on the maze design.
Mice can use various searching algorithms
. Two of the more popular ones are A* and Bellman-based flood-fill searches.
A new version of Micromouse called the Half Size Micromouse has been introduced for the first time for 30th All Japan Micromouse Competition 2009. Instead of a 16 x 16 maze the new competition uses a 32 x 32 maze, but the same square area. Cell and wall dimensions have been reduced, providing a new challenge.
Robot
A robot is a mechanical or virtual intelligent agent that can perform tasks automatically or with guidance, typically by remote control. In practice a robot is usually an electro-mechanical machine that is guided by computer and electronic programming. Robots can be autonomous, semi-autonomous or...
mice
Mouse
A mouse is a small mammal belonging to the order of rodents. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse . It is also a popular pet. In some places, certain kinds of field mice are also common. This rodent is eaten by large birds such as hawks and eagles...
solve a 16x16 maze
Maze
A maze is a tour puzzle in the form of a complex branching passage through which the solver must find a route. In everyday speech, both maze and labyrinth denote a complex and confusing series of pathways, but technically the maze is distinguished from the labyrinth, as the labyrinth has a single...
. It began in late 1970s, although there is some indication of events in 1950. Events are held worldwide, and are most popular in the UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
and South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
.
The maze is made up of a 16 by 16 grid of cells, each 180 mm square with walls 50 mm high. The mice are completely autonomous robot
Autonomous robot
Autonomous robots are robots that can perform desired tasks in unstructured environments without continuous human guidance. Many kinds of robots have some degree of autonomy. Different robots can be autonomous in different ways...
s that must find their way from a predetermined starting position to the central area of the maze unaided. The mouse will need to keep track of where it is, discover walls as it explores, map out the maze and detect when it has reached the goal. Having reached the goal, the mouse will typically perform additional searches of the maze until it has found an optimal route from the start to the center. Once the optimal route has been found, the mouse will run that route in the shortest possible time.
Mice can run at up to three meters per second, with current world records around 6~7 seconds, depending on the maze design.
Mice can use various searching algorithms
Search algorithm
In computer science, a search algorithm is an algorithm for finding an item with specified properties among a collection of items. The items may be stored individually as records in a database; or may be elements of a search space defined by a mathematical formula or procedure, such as the roots...
. Two of the more popular ones are A* and Bellman-based flood-fill searches.
A new version of Micromouse called the Half Size Micromouse has been introduced for the first time for 30th All Japan Micromouse Competition 2009. Instead of a 16 x 16 maze the new competition uses a 32 x 32 maze, but the same square area. Cell and wall dimensions have been reduced, providing a new challenge.
External links
- Micromouse at Birmingham City University — Host of the Micromouse Competition in the UK.
- UK micromouse 2010 — A cheesy grin....
- Micromouse Online — News, Articles and Discussion Forum for the Micromouse and small robot builder.
- Resources and inspiration for the micromouse builder
- Mobots — Micromouse building experiences
- TechfestTechfestTechfest is an independent body run by students of Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai. It was started in 1998 with the aim of providing a platform for students to showcase their technical skills...
conducted Micromouse for the first time in India - IIT Kharagpur's Robotics Competitions — Indian Institute of Technology KharagpurIndian Institute of Technology KharagpurThe Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur is an autonomous engineering, technology and management oriented institute of higher education established by the government of India in 1951...
organizes Micromouse competitions regularly - All-Japan Micromouse Contest (auto-translation from Japanese)
- Rules for 31st (2010) All-Japan Micromouse Contest