The International Conference on Field-Programmable Technology
(FPT’21) FPGA Design Competition
December 6th – 10th, 2021
Auckland, New Zealand
Theme: Autonomous Vehicle Driving Competition using FPGA
You can see the design competition, again, in the following youtube video which was made by Prof. Izumi !
Design competition site has been changed from Auckland in New Zealand to Okayama University in Japan due to Covid-19 issue.
We will be hosting the Autonomous Vehicle Driving Competition using FPGAs at FPT’21 in Auckland, New Zealand, again. The basic rules on the autonomous vehicle and the road layout and specifications will be the same as in past years. Each developed miniature car which is controlled by an FPGA will run on miniature roads while clearing some assignments. Although the design competition is a physical design competition, this year, we will support remote attendance. Teams who cannot travel to the venue will attend remotely by Zoom or similar. Participants have to send their vehicles in prior to the conference date, and they have to run autonomously.
The main points that are different from the past design competition are shown below.
- For teams who cannot travel to the venue:
- Every team attends the design competition remotely by Zoom or similar
- Participants have to send their vehicles in prior to 2nd December, and they have to run autonomously
- Each team must send tools necessary for assembling your robot
- Each team must send any cable if you need download support or something like that
- The shipping box should clearly be marked “Design Competition entry”, “no commercial component” to expedite customs
- Onsite student support will: assemble the vehicles, charge the vehicles, place the vehicles on the road in the competition while remotely communicating with team members by Zoom
- Note: we cannot assure that the robot car is not broken in transferring it and in the conference. Could you accept the worst case and carefully ship it with air bag?
- Necessary robot car conditions:
- The designs should be shipped with the battery.
- The battery connection must be a polarized connection (to avoid connecting it incorrectly on site)
- Vehicle must include integrated charging via a USB connection
- Integrated charging must have an LED on to indicate when charging, and turn off when charging is complete
- Vehicle operation must be controlled by a single switch mounted in an easily accessible position on the vehicle
- Teams who wish to have their vehicles returned will have their vehicles repacked in their original packaging, and returned via courier. Teams are responsible for the return shipping costs (which must be paid before the vehicle is returned).
- For teams who can attend onsite
- Onsite teams will attend from another room to realize the same conditions as remote teams
- They cannot see the lighting conditions, exact colors, layouts, and the road in the same way as remote teams
- Remote tuning rules
- Each team may perform remote tuning of their vehicles before the competition start.
- Teams may request and will be allocated a time where they may try their vehicle on the course, and perform any tuning.
- Any local teams will also have to perform any tuning remotely (from within another room). They will not have access to the competition room.
- A WIFI connection will be made available during your allocated time for connecting to your vehicle (details will be made available before you send your vehicle)
- All changes to your code, tuning parameters, etc, must be made remotely. This may either be directly via the WIFI, or via a laptop (using VPN / Remote desktop / etc connection to the laptop) with USB connection to the vehicle.
- The tuning WIFI connection will not be available during the competition.
- A helper will be available during tuning only for positioning your vehicle on the course. They will not perform any direct modifications to your vehicle (other than connecting your vehicle to the laptop via USB if required).
