Program

VRX Competition 2023

VRX Competition 2023

Robotics teams from around the world operate their autonomous surface vehicle (ASV) in a Gazebo-based simulation environment built by Open Robotics and the Naval Postgraduate School. Using the Virtual RobotX (VRX) environment, students develop innovative solutions for an ASV that can beat the challenge tasks in the simulated environment.

The VRX Competition is designed as an affordable entry point for teams interested in building skills in maritime autonomy, learning more about simulation environments as a tool, considering competing in RobotX or all of the above.

The environment uses RoboNation’s advanced robotics program RobotX as inspiration, however the VRX Competition is independent from the physical Maritime RobotX Challenge – that means you don’t have to compete in the physical RobotX Challenge in order to compete in VRX! 

RoboNation and the Office of Naval Research (ONR) have partnered with the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) and Open Robotics (OR) to bring you Virtual RobotX (VRX).  VRX is an open-source simulation environment designed as a free tool for students to test autonomous maritime robotics solutions.

Details

  • GitHub Repository

    Access the tool

  • Competition Dates
    • Workshop & Kickoff: April 28
    • Registration: June 5-August 30
    • Phase 1: September 5
    • Phase 2: October 3
    • Finals: November 1
  • Competition Eligibility
    • High School, College
  • Registration

    Intent to Compete

    Registration Opens on June 5

External Links

What you'll need:

Competition Resources

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2023 Task Descriptions

Last Updated: V1.1, May 18 

 

This document describes the individual tasks that make up theVirtual RobotX (VRX) 2023 Competition. Each task description includes a name and objective as well as implementation and scoring details.

 

In addition to the task descriptions, the VRX project Wiki has VRX 2023 Task Tutorials with working demonstrations for each of the tasks. Teams are encouraged to run these demonstrations to understand how the tasks will be implemented and scored. Participants should also review the general task interface and structure as described in the VRX Technical Guide.

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2023 Technical Guide

Last Updated: V1.1, May 18

 

The purpose of this document is to provide Virtual RobotX (VRX) teams with the information necessary to successfully prepare for and participate in the VRX competition. It covers the following topics: the competition goals and approach, the robotic platform, propulsion and sensor configuration, generic information about how tasks work, runs and environmental envelopes, the application programming interface (API), and instructions for submitting your code for the competition.

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VRX 2023 Kickoff

Get started with the kickoff, hosted on April 28 with Naval Postgraduate School and Open Robotics. Michael and Carlos go over an introduction to VRX, covering the following topics: why the simulation, why the competition, what is VRX, VRX 2023 tasks, how to get started, the migration to gazebo sim and ROS 2, the submission process and questions/discussion.

 

Competition Timeline

Meet the Teams - Coming Soon!

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