DJI Sets Date For Montreal RoboMaster AI Challenge

DJI has confirmed that its robotics and artificial intelligence event, RoboMaster, will take place for the third successive year in partnership with the International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA). RoboMaster will see student engineers compete to complete technical challenges and conquer rivals in an arena combat format in Montreal, Canada next May.

DJI and the ICRA’s RoboMaster challenge tasks teams of students with building a pair of rovers. These will need to fire small plastic pellets at opposing rovers and be fully autonomous while doing so.

The teams will need to build rovers capable of sensing the environment, navigating the arena, and, of course, engaging in combat with opposing teams. According to a statement from DJI, the students that have scored the most hits against their opponents will be declared the winner and will receive a grand prize of $20,000.

There will be a total of $68,000 in prize money up for grabs.

RoboMaster is very much a marathon, although the event will culminate in a few frantic days next summer. Teams will have to purchase basic hardware from RoboMaster and code their own autonomous systems.

As their projects progress, teams must submit photos, videos, and documentation to show how their system is coming along. Only those that demonstrate their ability to design fully functioning and autonomous rover units will qualify for the competition.

The approximate cost of equipment needed per rover is a hefty $4,999, but qualifying teams can purchase them at up to a 50% discount. If teams cannot field two robots, they can compete with just one. Last year 21 teams from China, Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, and the United States competed in the ICRA RoboMaster challenge.

More information and the registration page is available here. For the past five years, DJI has held the RoboMaster contest in Shenzhen, China.