POSTED ON:

Check in will start at 8 a.m. as mentioned before.

(see schedule below)

8 am: Registration and practice begins
9 am: Late Registration, but no practice
9:30 am: Competition begins
12 pm: Lunch
Ford Award winners will be announced
1 pm: Rounds start again
Awards Ceremony

If the rain starts after 12 p.m., then the competition will be cancelled and rescheduled for the next day.

9 am: Late Registration, but no practice

9:30 am: Competition begins

12 pm: Lunch

Ford Award winners will be announced

1 pm: Rounds start again

Awards Ceremony

II. TO BRING:

• Robot
• Any type of tools you need to fix your robot (we will not provide any tools)

May 25

• Each team will be allowed one false start.
• Once a team places their robot in the start box they will have one minute to adjust it.
• After the round is started you cannot touch the robot unless it is to remove it from the course w/ the permission of the judges.

7:00 AM Registration begins (weigh and measure robot;
receipts; tshirts, thanks you cards) and Practice Rounds
8:00 AM (each team receives 3 minutes alone on course -- teams are seeded by this round)
8:30 AM
9:00 AM
9:30 AM Late Registration (no practice for these people)
10:00 AM Welcome Statement and start 1st Round
10:30 AM nth Round
11:00 AM nth Round
11:30 AM nth Round

12:00 PM Lunch Begins/Ford Scholarship Presentations
12:30 PM Lunch Cont'd /Judging by Sponsors
1:00 PM nth Round
1:30 PM nth Round
2:00 PM nth Round
2:30 PM nth Round
3:00 PM nth Round
3:30 PM Awards Ceremony

The DC Clinic for Sick Robots
has lots of equipment to
meet your robot's needs.

Clinic Hours: May 25, Sunday 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Location: Prof. Sahakian's lab near M394
Doctor on Duty: Alan Sahakian (ECE)
For appointments: Please sign up on the sheet outside Prof. Sahakian's office (M394) for a 30-minute timeslot
Payment Plan: FREE!

Please email your song with the email subject stating:
Subject: TeamName_DC Theme Song
to k-akbar@northwestern.edu

Drop Boxes:

- Drop boxes have been put in place. Please be careful with placing pressure on the drop boxes as they are not permanently fixed to the course and may shift if hit forcefully.

- The course team will be in periodically to check on the condition of the course and drop boxes.

Plexi-glass ramps:

- There will be no modifications done to the plexi-glass ramps.

- Although some teams requested various alterations, to be fair to all the teams, everyone will have to plan accordingly to the plexi-glass ramps.

Blocking Areas:

- All ramps

- The bases of all ramps

- All drop boxes

- All plateaus (the top plateaus of the two mountains are not blocking areas except for the portions containing the drop boxes and pick ups)

- New: start boxes and directly in front of start boxes

All rules on blocking apply to these blocking areas

- Refer to the webpage on the blocking rule, if anything is unclear

Clarification to repetitive motion on blocking areas:

- No repetitive motion over one or more blocking areas. In order to move over an already traveled path over a blocking area(s) (with out it being deemed repetitive motion) the robot must first move off the blocking area, or areas, and then it can return to those same areas.

If you need any clarification on any of these statements, please feel free to email your questions or concerns to n-sahar2@northwestern.edu.

Ford will be having a car show on the day of competition.
The cars are:

• ’03 Mustang Mach 1
• ’66 Mustang
• Harley F150

It has become a DC tradition for teams to designate a song that would best represent their robot. The time has come again for you to email me your robot theme song. The song will be played every time your robot is competing on the course. Please ensure that the songs are in mp3 or other compressible format. E-mail your song to k-akbar@northwestern.edu or e-mail her with a time to do the file transfer through instant messenger.

The deadline to turn in all songs is May 15, 2003.

Please email your song with the email subject stating:
Subject: TeamName_DC Theme Song

When: Saturday, April 26, 2003
Where: Please report to M210 and then you will be directed to either M152 or MG28

MILESTONE PROCEDURE:

FINANCES: Please save all your receipts (store and online) and bring them with your name, SS# and signature for reimbursement.

SAFETY REVIEW: Robots will be reviewed to make sure that they are being built in compliance with the rules for DC 2003

All COMPETING TEAMS will need to attend the milestones in order to allow the DC Exec Board to check that the robots comply with the safety and rules regulations.

ANY TEAM IN VIOLATION OF DEADLINES AND RULES WILL IMMEDIATELY BE DISQUALIFIED TO COMPETE IN DC 2003.

DC 2004 Exec Board Elections

Wanted: Qualified individuals for Design Competition’s Executive Board.

Positions for DC 2004 Exec Board Elections

Download positions here.

• Chair
• Public Relations
• Community Relations
• Publicity
• Webmaster
• Festivities
• Secretary
• Finance
• Course Design Chair
• Course Design
• Rules
• Team Director

Chair
· Preside over all meetings and make an agenda and timeline
· Delegate work effectively and evenly
· Organize Election
· Announcer during the competition
· Makes final decisions on the day of the competition
· Approves spending/budget

Public Relations Chair
· Maintain contact with past and current sponsors (even over the summer) and keep them updated and involved with DC.
· Identify new sponsors (Industry Day, Office of Industry Relations, Coop Office, DC alumni)
· Send receipts and invoices to companies.
· Oversee the Image Management Committee
· Provide Webmaster with corporate information to post on the web

Community Relations
· Act as liaison to other McCormick student groups (attend NESC meetings) and administration.
· Come up with creative ways to raise additional money for DC and minimize expenses (i.e. Sell water or sun screen)
· Organize Fundraisers and events that will help promote DC
· Locate and coordinate food sponsors for the day of the competition
· Find new ways to promote DC year-round (ie. Promotion items, organize tours, family days, etc.)
· Keep track of teams' members (graduation years and majors), keep alumni informed of DC events
· Work with Course Design Chair as an EDC Client

Publicity
· Design the DC T-shirt and logo
· Make invitations, thank you notes, and promotion brochures to entice new sponsors.
· Publicize any DC event (i.e. Kickoff and Competition) by chalking, distributing flyers, hanging a banner in tech lobby, etc.)
· Making informal signs about DC for the Mixer

Webmaster
· Create DC website and update it at least 3 times a week (this includes course rules, course diagrams, FAQ, announcements, keep statistics, etc.)
· Communicate with Teams Director and post announcements regularly
· Communicate with Public Relations Chair and post information for sponsors
· Create a password program to allow sponsors to obtain resumes online.

Festivities
· Reserve rooms for Kickoff, Milestones, Mixer, etc.
· Order food and find caterers
· Coordinate drop-off and pick-up of equipment and reserve Garrett Place, Garrett Lawn, Patten Gym, tables, tents, generators, sound systems, risers, bleachers, etc.
· Organize cooking and distribution of food and drinks

Secretary
· Take attendance and minutes during exec board meetings
· Compile resume books
· Oversee scholarships committee
· Act as historian (save and organize all record of DC)
· Work with Community Relations to help keep track of DC Alumni

Finance (preference: knowledge of CUFFs and SOFO accounts)
· Create a line-by-line budget for the DC exec
· Keep records of all money spent
· Provide reimbursements to teams at all milestones

Course Design Chair
· Act as liaison between Course Design Committee and exec board
· Overseeing a feasible course design
· In charge of double elimination bracket
· Set up and guard the course during the day of the competition
· Work with Community Relations as an EDC Client

Course Design
· Design a technically feasible course
· Set up and guard the course during the day of the competition

Rules
· Consult exec board to prevent loopholes in rules and course
· Prepare contracts and work with the legal office
· Set up and guard the course during the day of the competition

Team Director
· Set up the DC-team listserve (adding/deleting members)
· Act as a team liaison (answering/directing team questions to the board, updating teams with important dates/submission deadlines etc.)
· Coordinate tutorials with Kevin Lynch, rich Dojutrek, Steve Jacobson, etc.

What is Design Competition: Design Competition is a robot-building
competition. Teams of students design and build autonomous robots that
compete in a head-to-head format. The robots navigate and conquer a course
designed by the executive board. Last year over 31 teams composed of over 125 students from all majors competed in this event.

Each fall, the executive board reveals a new course to that year’s competitors. Student teams will begin designing, constructing and testing their robots, enhancing their technical engineering skills, and their teamwork and organizational skills for the competition in May.

Responsibilities of the Executive Board: Overall management of the
competition. Each member performs many tasks necessary during the yearlong planning required for the implementation of the competition; members are primarily responsible for a specific part ofcompetition. These areas include finance, course construction and rules direction, public relations, team management, logistics and event planning, and Internet development.

Requirements: Minimum 2.5 GPA, enthusiasm for Design Competition, a team mentality, and creativity. Executive board or team building experience is preferred, but not required.

Perks: Executive Board members will receive 2 ECE 399 credits for Winter and Spring Quarters. It is a great resume builder, networking opportunity, and offers valuable experience in project management.

How to Apply: Write a 250-word passage on why you would be the most qualified person for the position you are interested in and email it to Shinie Shaw at (s-shaw2@northwestern.edu) by April 30. Please write a passage for each position you are interested in.

Practice

• Practicing will begin Thursday April 17th.
• Sign up sheets will be placed inside Sigma Chi near the door that faces Sargent Hall.
• You will be able to sign up for two hours per day and practice times will be available 24 hours a day.

Odds and ends:

- Drop boxes have not been inserted in the course yet. They will probably be completed by the end of this week.

- The maze on the south side of the course has not been stabilized yet, so please be careful when running robots near that area.

- Please avoid walking on the course as much as possible. The more pressure on the course, the greater the possibility that the fitted pieces of the course will become uneven and make practicing more difficult as your robot may behave differently with minor course changes. Never walk on any of the ramps; they are not prepped to carry the weight of a person.

- Over this week, the course may be closed during certain times to finish small details on the course. Emails will be sent out to inform you of these times.

Every team member must read the DC Practice Contract before allowed to practice.

Please read over the contract and email Kulsum Akbar at
k-akbar@northwestern.edu, informing her that you have read the contract and fully understand the rules as well as the possible consequences of breaching the contract.

Your team will not be emailed the code for entering Sigma Chi until every member of your DC team has emailed Kulsum.

When you email Kulsum, please reproduce this statement with your name inserted in the appropriate place:

I, [name], fully understand the rules and guidelines outlined in the DC Practice Contract as well as the consequences of misconduct while practicing in Sigma Chi.

Once all team members have emailed Kulsum this statement, she will email everyone on your team the code for Sigma Chi.

Just to give you a heads up on the second milestone to be held on Saturday, April 26, 2003.

MILESTONE PROCEDURE:

FINANCES: Please save all your receipts (store and online) and bring them with your name, SS# and signature for reimbursement.

SAFETY REVIEW: Robots will be reviewed to make sure that they are being built in compliance with the rules for DC 2003

All COMPETING TEAMS will need to attend the milestones in order to allow the DC Exec Board to check that the robots comply with the safety and rules regulations.

ANY TEAM IN VIOLATION OF DEADLINES AND RULES WILL IMMEDIATELY BE DISQUALIFIED TO COMPETE IN DC 2003

(Please email dc@northwestern.edu if you have questions in this regard or see the rules.)

When: Wednesday, April 2, 2003 from 3-5 p.m.

Where: Sigma Chi (fraternity across from Sargent)

Why: To unveil the DC course and answer all your burning questions

Who: Team members, Team Advisors (don't forget to invite them yourselves),
Deans, Corporate Sponsors

Also, here is a message from our treasurer (Judy Tsai
j-tsai4@northwestern.edu) about reimbursements:
Please come to the mixer to get your checks and email Judy for providing
other information.

This tutorial will provide information on interfacing circuits for sensors,
amplification, thresholding, one-shots, timers, hysteresis, comparators and
opamps, power drivers, and quadrature decoders.

DC 2004 Exec Board Elections

Wanted: Qualified individuals for Design Competition’s Executive Board.

What is Design Competition: Design Competition is a robot-building
competition. Teams of students design and build autonomous robots that
compete in a head-to-head format. The robots navigate and conquer a course
designed by the executive board. Last year over 31 teams composed of over 125 students from all majors competed in this event.

Each fall, the executive board reveals a new course to that year’s competitors. Student teams will begin designing, constructing and testing their robots, enhancing their technical engineering skills, and their teamwork and organizational skills for the competition in May.

Responsibilities of the Executive Board: Overall management of the
competition. Each member performs many tasks necessary during the yearlong planning required for the implementation of the competition; members are primarily responsible for a specific part ofcompetition. These areas include finance, course construction and rules direction, public relations, team management, logistics and event planning, and Internet development.

Requirements: Minimum 2.5 GPA, enthusiasm for Design Competition, a team mentality, and creativity. Executive board or team building experience is preferred, but not required.

Perks: Executive Board members will receive 2 ECE 399 credits for Winter and Spring Quarters. It is a great resume builder, networking opportunity, and offers valuable experience in project management.

How to Apply: Write a 250-word passage on why you would be the most qualified person for the position you are interested in and email it to Shinie Shaw at (s-shaw2@northwestern.edu) by April 30. Please write a passage for each position you are interested in.

Thursday, Feburuary 27, 7pm
Location: Tech LR4

Prof. Lynch will be handing you keys to the Mechatronics lab so please be
on time since this meeting should not take more than 20 minutes.

1) Chris Biedrzycki
2) William Gray
3) Mark Tiefenbruck
4) Anshuman Dabriwala
5) Arnulfo Loza
6) Kevin Pansky
7) Diane Kim
8) John Szafraniec
9) Steve Lieberman

Other students can also attend if they need keys but they need to inform
Prof. Lynch beforehand so he can bring extra keys.

This tutorial will give a brief introduction on the Basic Stamp. How to
use it, what it can do, how to get it, how to read the manual, and finally
how to use the Stamp to communicated with the robot and/or sensors.

NO makeup for this tutorial.

Reminders:

Team Reorganization:

Just a reminder that please do not add any more members onto your
teams. The first milestone was the final time until when teams could be
reorganized. Starting from now, your team structure is final.

Advisor Contract form:

If you haven't turned in your advisor team contract form, please drop them off in an envelope located on the DC Bulletin Board across from M212 ASAP.

Clarifications about the course:

• The drop holes will be ½ inch deep at the center of the hole.
  
• The speed bumps will be made from a ½ inch dowel cut in half.
  
• There will be lips around all perimeters so even at the peaks
  of mountains your robot will be safe from falling.
  
• The pick ups and drop boxes have been shifted in location at
  the tops of the two mountains (look at course pictures for updates).
  
• On competition day (or earlier if ready) you must show us how
  your robot obtains and drops balls and how it removes balls from drop
  boxes (if it can do this).
  
• We will have a course picture soon that will define the areas in which you need to be concerned about blocking.
  
• We are going to be very stringent about intentional blocking on
  competition day. Please do not try to find loop holes on this matter,
  remember judges have the final say.

Prof. Sahakian will be talking about some basic sensors and interface circuits to them, including sensors for light, position, orientation and proximity. Please be on time!

NO makeup for this tutorial.

Please sign up for a 15-minute time slot (starting from 11 a.m.) on the
signup sheet on the DC Bulletin Board across from M212/next to Jared
Tuberty's office.

Milestones are a MANDATORY part of your participation in DC 2003. If you fail to show up for a milestone, following are the consequences:

If a team is not present at a milestone, they will be penalized $100 and
they must send an email to the DC executive board by midnight one week
before the milestone date with an explanation of why they did not attend.
If no letter is sent the team will be disqualified. Proposals must be
submitted by the deadline.
1st milestone - Must show first design and have a safety review
2nd milestone - Final design and safety proposals must be approved on or before this date.
3rd milestone - Competition day

All Teams will be given one tax exempt form. You will not be able to
photocopy these forms. If you need more forms, please contact our
treasurer, Judy Tsai (j-tsai4@northwestern.edu)

Please save all your receipts for the milestone (store and online) and
bring them with your name, SS# and signature for reimbursement.

You have until the first milestone (Februaray, 15) to turn in your signed contract forms. These forms can be downloaded in .doc or .pdf format.

If you would like to turn it in before then, there is a drop off envelope on the Design Competition bulletin board.

For questions contact our rules chair:
Dustin Friedman, d-friedman1@northwestern.edu

Just like last year, the Design Competition Exec board will be compiling a
resume book to hand to our corporate sponsors such as Ford Motor Company, Motorola, HP, ADC Foundation, Illinois Tool Works, Rauland Borg, Visteon, Honeywell, Northrop Grumman and Accenture.

The sponsors greatly appreciate this and are more willing to peruse through a resume book of competitors since they view them as potential candidates for jobs/internships recruiting.

Therefore, if you are an underclassman OR upperclassman and are looking for a job, please submit your resume for the DC 2003 Resume book

by Friday, February 14, 2003, 5 p.m.

to DC Secretar, Erica Morales, e-morales@northwestern.edu.

Please name your resume and the subject of the email in the following format:

FirstNameLastName_DC2003Resume
(eg: KulsumAkbar_DC2003Resume)

Some guidelines to follow when submitting your resume are as follows:

• Restrict the content to 1 page
• Font should be > 10pt
  
• Should be in .pdf format (found in Tech computer lab, MG45)
  • If your resume is in MS Word format: open it in Word, go to File > Print. In the Printer > Name field choose Acrobat PDFWriter from the drop-down menu. Hit print to convert your document to .pdf format.
  • OR if you have a NU CareerTrak account, you may upload your resume which is automatically converted to .pdf format and download it.
• Follow a standard format. You may refer to UCS website:
  http://www.northwestern.edu/careers/STUDENTS/RESUMES/res-index.htm)
  

Prof. Lynch will be talking about DC motors, stepper motors, RC servo
motors and solenoids so you don't want to miss this session.
Please be on time!

If Nabeel is not in, please call Course Design Team members to pick them up:

• Chaz Vukotich, Slivka Room 238, (Phone 2-6317)
• John King, Slivka Room 207, (Phone 2-9362
• Victor Lin, Slivka Room 204, (Phone 2-9289)

Milestone I, Saturday, February, 15, 2003.

Please sign up for a 15-minute time slot (starting from 11 a.m.) on the signup sheet on the DC Bulletin Board across from M212 / next to Jared Tuberty's office.

Just to give you a heads up on the first milestone to be held:

Milestone Procedure:

• Finances: Please save all your receipts (store and online) and bring them signed for reimbursement.
• Safety Review: Robots will be reviewed to make sure that they are being built in compliance with the rules for DC 2003.
• All Competing Teams will need to attend the milestones in order to allow the DC Exec Board to check that the robots comply with the safety and rules regulations.
  

Any team in violation of deadlines and rules WILL IMMEDIATELY BE DISQUALIFIED to compete in DC 2003.

• Please email dc@northwestern.edu if you have questions in this regard.
• Review rules.

The Mechatronics Design Laboratory, located in the ITEC (BIRL) building on
Maple, will be available to students participating in DC. The Mechatronics
Design Lab is a facility to support undergraduate design of lectromechanical systems, and consists of six workstations with PC's with control cards, oscilloscopes, function generators, power supplies, multimeters, wire, and hand tools. The lab also has a variety of electrical components (resistors, capacitors, transistors, op-amps, integrated circuits) for use in projects.
For more information on the lab, visit the website at http://mechatronics.mech.nwu.edu/mechatronics

Any student interested in using the mechatronics lab for DC must attend
this orientation meeting. Only students attending this session will get
Marlok keys and be authorized to use the lab for their DC projects.

NOTE: Please e-mail Kulsum Akbar before Friday, January 31 if you will need to have a makeup for Mechatronics Lab session.

MAKEUP DC Tutorial I (mandatory)
Use of Machine Shop

Wednesday, January 22, 7-8 p.m.
Tech BG11
by

Bob Taglia (Assistant of Richard Dojutrek)

A a short overview of the machines and supplies available for DC
competitors. This usually takes less than 1 hour. Bob will explain the
ground rules for shop usage and what equipment is available for DC to use.
Included is a short demonstration of some equipment which is most popular
with DC.

If teams don't come to the overview meeting Rich Dojutrek will not allow
them to use the shop.

DC Tutorial I (mandatory)
Use of Machine Shop

Friday, January 17, 3pm
Tech BG11
by

Richard Dojutrek (ME)

A short review of the machines and supplies available for DC competitors. This usually takes less than 1 hour. Rich will explain the ground rules for the shop usage and what equipment is available for DC to use. Included is a short demonstration of some equipment which is most popular with DC.

We will try to hold more makeup sessions for those who cannot make it to this one.If teams don't come to the overview meeting, Rich will not allow them to use the shop.

Please e-mail Kulsum Akbar (k-akbar@northwestern.edu) if you need a team. Make sure to include your Name, Year (Remember: having a freshman on your team earns you extra $), Major, Contributing Skills.

Following are some students looking for teams. Please e-mail them and let
them know if you would like them to join your team.

Steve Laughman
Freshman-ECE
s-laughman@northwestern.edu
CONTRIBUTING SKILLS: I have been employed full time as a programmer and do have something to offer, if not just the 50 bucks that comes with having me (a freshman) on the team.

Kunal Jain
Sophomore-CS
kjain@northwestern.edu
CONTRIBUTING SKILLS: I plan to take the mechatronics class next quarter
which should give me a lot of knowledge about this field and be a helpful
addition to a team.

Ben Stephens
Freshman-ME
b-stephens-1@northwestern.edu
CONTRIBUTING SKILLS: I'm relentless... give me a problem and I'll work on
it without food or sleep until I've found my best possible solution/explanation. I know C++ and whatever else I'm learning in Tech right now. I will learn anything else that is essential to our task on my own.

Mohit Manocha
Freshman
m-manocha@northwestern.edu

Dan Morris
Freshman-ECE
dmorris@northwestern.edu
CONTRIBUTING SKILLS: I can program in C/C++ . I have programmed
microcontrollers such as the Handyboard and the Atmel AVR series in
addition to PCs. I have worked as an electronics assembler so I am a very
good at soldering and electronic prototyping. I good at building/fixing
machines but I have very little experience in a machine shop.

Aaron Beach
Freshman
a-beach@northwestern.edu
CONTRIBUTING SKILLS: I can do some programming and am getting laithe training in the machine shop,
but basically I just want do whatever you would like me to, including
organizational stuff or whatever in order to learn.

Michael Melzer
Freshman - ECE
m-melzer@northwestern.edu
CONTRIBUTING SKILLS: Have worked as an electrician, so very good with wiring and motors, decent at soldering.

Hugo Angelmar
Sophomore-CS
h-angelmar@northwestern.edu
CONTRIBUTING SKILLS: Basic knowledge of c/c++. I know how to solder and have a growing interest for ASM and Computer Engineering things. I also have little skills in the how-to program chips. I also am motivated to build an awsome robot with whoever might be interested to have me on his/her team.

Eric Huang
Freshman - BME
eric@northwestern.edu
CONTRIBUTING SKILLS: I don't have the programming/electronic background a lot of the other freshman do, but I can offer endless hours of hard work and dedication. I'm willing to learn and do whatever is required of me to become an asset to the team.

 November 6

The team applications and design proposals must be received by 4pm on Wednesday, November 27, 2002 (email dc@northwestern.edu and hard copy to Professor Taflove's mailbox in ECE Dept) and should include the following:

1. Cover Page
· Team Name
· Team Member Information (Name, E-Mail, Address, Phone Number, and Year)
· Team Contact (1 member only)
· Faculty Advisor

2. Content
· Strategy
· Budget
· Timeline
· Drawings/Diagrams