What is Zero Robotics?
"Zero Robotics" is a robotics programming competition where the robots are SPHERES satellites inside the International Space Station. The competition starts online, on this website, where teams compete to solve an annual challenge guided by mentors. Participants can create, edit, share, save, simulate and submit code, all from a web browser. After several phases of virtual competition, finalists are selected to compete in a live championship aboard the ISS. An astronaut will conduct the championship competition in microgravity with a live broadcast!
There are three types of Zero Robotics tournaments:
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High School Tournament: geared towards students in grades 9-12, the tournament takes place from Sep-Dec each Fall. This is a nationwide event open to any teams from the US.
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Middle School Summer Program: for younger students, this is a 5-week program where students learn to program through a graphical interface. The program will take place at TBD locations (where the SPHERES team has a strong presence). The first open program is expected to start in the Summer of 2013.
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Open Challenges: these are open to everyone from around the world, including professionals, educators, university students, etc. You can participate individually or as a team. These competitions usually involve working on complex algorithms that will help future spaceflight missions.
All tournaments are free of charge. All you need to participate is to create an account and register your team for an active tournament. Plus, High School and Middle School teams need a primary mentor.
Tournament Objectives
The participants compete to win a technically challenging game by programming their strategies into the SPHERES satellites. The game is motivated by a current problem of interest to DARPA, NASA and MIT. Student software controls satellite speed, rotation, direction of travel, etc. Depending on the game premise, the students must program their satellites to complete game objectives (navigate obstacles, pick up virtual objects, etc.) while conserving resources (fuel, charge, etc.) and staying within specified time and code-size limits. The programs are "autonomous" - that is, the students cannot control the satellites during the test itself.
