RoboMaster – HerKules
Host department: Department of Computer Science
Supervisor: Dr. Kenneth Wong (Department of Computer Science)
About Robomaster
RoboMaster (the RM) is one of the world’s biggest, most complex and completely over the top student robotics competition. During the 5-day competition, students from over 200 universities around the world compete in front tens of thousands of fans while millions more watch online. The whole thing takes place inside a colossal stadium in Shenzhen, an arena that usually holds the country’s biggest rock stars. It is all being funded by Da Jiang Innovations Science & Technology Co, which is widely known as Dji, a company famous of its drone product named Phantom. The competitors are here not only for cash prizes but a chance to audition their talents for jobs in Dji. Dji on the other hand wants to use this competition to become the most successful robotics company in the world. This is RoboMaster, a stage for the robot-lovers to achieve their childhood dreams.
—- Da Jiang Innovation & Technology Co
How is the competition like?
This competition is kind of a tower defense game in robots version. A LOL (League of Legends) player may be excited in the game since the entire settings are quite alike. Instead, we don’t choose heroes; we BUILD our own troops!
In the game, we have heroes, infantries, and drones that can shoot at the enemies to defend our base and attack theirs. Sentries are in charge of the base protection, just like defense towers. Similar to those in the LOL, the sentries are complete automatic robots which dodge, search and attack without involving humans.
The same technology is put into usage in Tesla and Google newest autopilot cars. Also, we have a huge robot called ‘Engineer’ to fetch the supply and to rescue the others. All of the robots mentioned above, except the sentry, are controlled by the operators in the first perspective. The operators are seated in the controlling rooms like all the esports games.
Actually, we operators and the developers are the E-SPORT HEROES as well, fighting for the glory and enjoying the cheers!
In a nutshell, how is the RoboMaster like? It is League of Legends plus Call of Duty; it is a tower defence game with our robot troop; it is a stage for you to become stars!
—- Herkules, the RoboMaster Team of the University of Hong Kong
Team Captain of Herkules, the RoboMaster Team of the University of HongKong
Team organization
Captain
Management Team
Researching & Developing Team (R&D Team)
Captain
The captain is the leader of the entire team and is the person in charge of the development, management and operation. He / She should also be responsible for the team register, call in and hold the conventions and meetings, appointment or removal of the members with agreement by a simple majority of the members, lead the formulate of the requirements, dominant the development directions and schedule, issue warnings or punishment, keep in contact with Dji, the organizers of RoboMaster, other teams, professors and supervisors.
Management Team
Project Manager
The project manager (PM), is the leader of the entire operation team, who should be responsible to the captain. He / She should oversee the project coordination, including
- Coordinate the developing plans and progress of the R&D groups, and
- Supervise the development of the groups and promote the progress when necessary.
He / She should as well be responsible for organizing the operation team to fulfill the task assigned by the captain.
Secretary of Internal Affair
The duties of the secretary of internal affair include:
- coordinating the relationship between the members, the supervisors and professors,
- caring about the physical and mental condition of the members,
- understanding the current progress bottlenecks and proposing solutions,
- recording the conventions and meetings, arranging inner activities,
- managing laboratories and testing venues, and
- assisting the secretary of external affair in the purchase of equipment and materials.
Secretary of External Affair
The duties of secretary of external affair include:
- contacting the organizer, alumni, professors, PIC of the Inno Wing, graduate students’ associations and other associations on campus,
- finding sponsorship,
- organizing teams to participate in Inno Show, and
- booking accommodation, food and transportation, material procurement and logistics supervision.
Secretary of Design and Publicity
The duties of secretary of design and publicity include:
- team uniform design,
- robot design,
- public WeChat account, and
- team publicity.
Secretary of Finance
The duties of secretary of finance include:
- material purchase,
- reconciliation of income and expenditure,
- request for reimbursement, and
- management of financial and accounts.
Researching & Developing Team (R&D Team)
Senior Engineers
Each senior engineer undertakes the technical work in one direction, who oversees the entire research and development of robots and is responsible to the captain. He / She is the first person in charge of the development. The specific responsibilities include:
- determining the robot needs, technical indicators and component models,
- organizing meetings,
- coordinating the development progress,
- supervising the progress of the whole group, and
- check the developing results and guide the iteration.
The senior engineer should attend all team meetings and conventions, review the requirements and development plans, provide advice and suggestions. There are five positions at this level:
- Senior Engineer for Mechanism, Venue Construction & Testing,
- Senior Hardware Engineer,
- Senior Automation Engineer,
- Senior Algorithm Engineer, and
- Senior FBW Engineer.
R&D Groups
Each R&D team shall report to the captain and senior engineers weekly, demonstrate the program plan, research and development progress, progress and current issues, and receive guidance, inquiry and inspection from the captain and senior engineers. There are three groups:
- Fighters Group – In charge of the Infantry, Hero and Sentry.
- Engineer Group – In charge of the Engineer.
- Drone Group – In charge of the aerial robot (a. k. a. Drone).
Each team consist of the following members:
- Group leader
- Algorithm engineers – Design, analyse and implement the algorithm for the computer-on-robot to realize the auto-aiming and shooting.
- Automation engineers – Write the software based on STM32 development boards, which shall read all the available feedback from sensors and be capable of controlling all the electronic devices; implement the user interface and the controlling interface to the computer-on-robot.
- Hardware engineers – Determine the electric and electronic device models indices; design the circuits and the connection; install the components, connect them and testing them.
- FBW engineers (Only in the drone group) – In charge of the connection, calibration, debugging and testing of the fly controlling parts on the aerial robot. Dominant the training of the drone operators.
- Mechanism engineers – Design, manufacture and install the robots.
- Engineers for Venue Construction & Testing – Determine the testing items; design and construct the testing platforms for unit testing; prepare the testing venue.
The group leaders shall oversee the entire developing procedure of the target robot(s) and is responsible to the captain. His / Her duty includes:
- formulate of the requirements, technical criteria and model indices
- hold the group meetings,
- coordinate and supervise the developing progress of the target robot(s),
- check the developing result and guide the iteration of the target robot(s).
The group leaders need to care about both the developing procedure and the mental health of the groupmates, figure out the difficulties and bottlenecks and offer guidance or inform the relevant senior engineers to assist the groupmates.
Plan for Robomaster 2020
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Apply
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Plan
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Selection
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Build
Team members
Recruitment
Why join Robomaster?
RoboMaster is an ideal competition for anyone who is enthusiastic about robotics, computer programming, mechanics, electronics, or even e-sports. If you are looking forward to a professional experience in building robots, or want to have a learning experience and find productive work for your time during the semester, Robomaster will hit the mark for your expectations!
We cannot promise a champion or a prize since it depends on everyone in our team. But we can guarantee you that you never regret joining us now!
Automation Engineer
- Preference: CS, CE or EEE students.
- Requirements: Programming in C
- Expectations: You will be able to learn about:
- Embedded system
- Operation system
- Software Engineering & Version control
- Computer networking and communication technology
FBW Engineer
- Preference: CS or CE or EEE students.
- Requirements: Fundamental programming skills, passion for technology
- Expectations: You will be able to learn about:
- Development and maintenance of flight control algorithms.
- Fundamental computer vision knowledge and embedded system development knowledge.
- Collaborative programming on a large project.
- System component utilization and testing.
- How to test and fly a drone!
Algorithm Engineer
- Preference: CS students or Mathematics students
- Requirements: Some knowledge of C++ programming, Linux operating system, concepts of computer vision, machine learning, or cameras.
- Expectations: You will be able to learn about:
- Managing, operating and programming an on-board Linux mini-PC in a robot.
- Collaborative programming with team members using Git.
- Elementary knowledge of OpenCV, C, Git.
Hardware Engineer
- Preference: CE or EEE students
- Requirements: Basic knowledge of electronics
- Expectations: You will be able to learn about:
- Basic circuitry and safety
- Soldering and wiring
- Signals and electronic devices
- Some machine learning techniques
Mechanical Designing Engineer
- Preference: ME students
- Requirements: Patient and disciplined, and able to handle pressure and complete miscellaneous tasks in an organised way.
- Expectations: You will be able to learn about:
- Mechatronics design methodology and workflow
- Software operations for CAD (computer aided design) and FEA (finite element analysis)
- Prototyping (3D Printing & elementary machining)
- Actuation analysis and design
- Structural analysis and design
- Properties of materials and common fabrication methods
- Engineering standards
- Basic control theory and EEE knowledge
Engineer for Venue Construction & Testing
- Preference: ME or CE or EEE or CS or Civil-E students
- Requirements: Disciplined, perform testing strictly according to standards and handle documentation well
- Expectations:
You will be able to learn the following:- Testing methodology and workflow
- Software operations for CAD (computer aided design) and FEA (finite element analysis)
- Prototyping (3D Printing & elementary machining)
- Actuation analysis and design (for testing platform construction)
- Structural analysis and design (for testing platform construction)
- Properties of materials and common fabrication methods
- Engineering standards
- Basic control theory and EEE knowledge
Opportunity to enroll in credit-bearing course
COMP3414 Experiential Learning on Artificial Intelligence and Robotics is a multidisciplinary experiential learning course offered by the Department of Computer Science in the 2nd semester.
This course is designed for Engineering students to learn about artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics. Students will learn AI and robot related technical disciplines (such as machine vision, embedded system design, mechanical control, inertial navigation, human-computer interaction, etc.) through designing and building intelligent robots, and forming teams to participate in robotics competitions such as RoboMaster Robotics Competition and AI Driving Olympics, etc.
To enroll in this course, students are required to:
- Have at least one year of experience in the respective teams (i.e., RoboMaster Team or AI-DO Team) to familiarize themselves with the rules of the respective competitions and acquire a fundamental technical background in building and programming robots.
- Have individual contribution to the technical aspect of the project work related to artificial intelligence and robotics.
Checkout more information about the course requirements, eligibility and assessments in the following page.
What members have learnt from Robomaster
知識層面的話，主要是機器人學方面的，比如如何理解，改進控制程序框架，如何理解，運用機器人的姿態解算，以及了解各種機器人常用的硬件以及運用他們的基本功能。閱歷經歷：能夠參與一個比較大的項目開發，收獲合作開發經驗。能夠鍛煉系統性工程思維的能力。能夠鍛煉動手能力，有效溝通能力。
Eric, a year-2 CS student, senior aerial robot engineer
學到的知識：熟練掌握Solidworks建模及繪圖實用部分功能；了解部分機械設計常識，包括零件、作動機構、連接機構設計；掌握部分加工技能，包括使用電鑽、電鋸及操作3D打印機；熟練掌握裝配技能，包括螺絲及螺母的選型及各類扳手的使用；初步掌握簡單氣動元件的使用，包括空氣壓縮機、氣瓶、恆壓閥及氣缸和使用ADAMS進行模擬運動仿真及分析。 經歷閱歷：獨自完成了半個（對，就半個）機器人從設計到迭代到組裝成型的整個過程，為以后參與機器人項目積累了相當的經驗；另外對於3D打印機的熟練使用也為以后自己完成獨立項目打好了基礎；在這一年內完成的裝配與加工工作培養了工程師素養；最后，在這一年內，尤其是兩次赴深圳比賽期間，我對團隊的協同工作該如何開展有了更新的認識。
Li Jia Long, a year-2 computer engineering student, mechanism designer
In the last year, I was in charge of the electronic control of the different types of robots. We used C language embedded in
RTOS system and the STM32 microprocessor to control the robots. I learned some of the robotics control theories, such as PID, finite state machine and Kalman filter. I also acquired practical skills in EE area, like how to read a schematic and how to do soldering… The RoboMaster is an international competition held by DJI, where we fight against opponents around the world. You can learn so much cutting-edge technology from your teammates and from other teams.
Leo Y. C. Liu, a year-2 computer science students, automation developer
“I was very intrigued by the opportunity of making robots. Gaining hands on experience is great, but interacting at a deeper level with geeks is perhaps even more enriching :-D”
Joyce X. X. Wang, project manager, Robomaster 2019
“I joined this team as a freshman uncertain and confused. But now, I feel grateful of this choice, because in here, not only did I acquire precious experience of robotics, but also make treasured friendship with my teammates. I’d say this team, or this competition inspires me of some of my future direction that I want to keep pursuing.”
Leo Y. C. Liu, group leader of the fighter group, Robomaster 2019
“In 2018-2019 RoboMaster, I have learned a lot on programming matters for examples real-time operating system, etc. and I meet wonderful people in RoboMaster team which help me learn better in engine course in year 1. Also, RoboMaster provides me a chance that I could apply my learning in real-life problems.”
Macro Z. Y. Mak, software developer, Robomaster 2019
“I feel like a part of a warm family though I involved in this team in the first semester. In 2019 RoboMaster, my core role transfer from technology development to management. My communication and presentation skills developed.”
Z. Q. Huang, captain during the year of 2018, Robomaster 2018
“In 18/19 RoboMaster, my engineering skills and innovative thinking have strengthened a lot. This competition is exactly a reality video game. Any crazy ideas can become true, such as car moving horizontal and the mushroom in Mario Cart.”
Hostin Kuo, hardware developer, Robomaster 2019
“During my time in RoboMaster, I have learned a lot on not only technical skills on how to develop a robot but also skills on how to interact with people. The most satisfying experience of all is to implement to the power management system to allow the car to get extra power when needed for slope climbing or acceleration.”
Feng Yip, hardware developer
“The competition gave an opportunity to have a glimpse of the industry-level developing procedure and a chance to get involved in real software development. In the RoboMaster, for the first time, I got to know about the function pointers and practiced OOP skills in language C. Also, for the first time I started to utilize the Git to manage a huge project with tens of thousands of codes. The experience in the team is somehow like an internship but with more motivations and a stronger sense of achievement afterward. I do enjoy the year and cherish the knowledge and practice the team has offered me.”
David Y. H. Liu, software developer
“It is a year of growth for me both academically and practically. Such competition exposes my vulnerability when facing pressure and give me a chance to adopt a more positive attitude toward it.”
Eric S. R. Chen, group leader of the aerial robot group, Robomaster 2019
“Despite my major in Computer Engineering, I still have been able to have a taste of the mechanical designing thanks to the team. I have learned how to use Solidworks to construct models, how to simulate the motions and how to assemble components together. It broadens my horizons and offers me more knowledge than what I can gain within the classrooms.”
Rex J. L. Li, mechanical designer, Robomaster 2019
“In the year, I mainly focus on the computer vision area. The experience greatly enhanced my abilities in coding and algorithm analyzing. It motivates me to touch some of the frontiers of scientific research. I am convinced that the team has enabled me for the upcoming challenges in the future study.”
B. R. Dong, group leader of computer vision group, Robomaster 2019
“The biggest takeaway here is you will never be able to experience anything like Robomaster elsewhere. It’s exhilarating complexity and intensity kept us on our feet throughout the season. I appreciate what we have achieved because of how much we have grown together as a team.”
Sean Chok, mechanical designer, Robomaster 2019
“In this year’s RoboMaster career, I learned some of the common knowledge of mechanical design, mastered assembly skills, for future participation in the robot project has accumulated considerable experience, training engineers. During the year, especially during the two trips to Shenzhen, I had an updated understanding of how the team worked together.”
Edwin, mechanical designer, Robomaster 2019
Info session on 2019-9-5
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