

DEFCONBOTS - An Autonomous Robotics Competition at DEFCON - jotux
http://defconbots.org/

======
jotux
Contest organizer here (Fryguy[1] is the other one). When we were in college
we competed at defconbots in 2007 and 2008. The contest ended in 2009 but we
continued it at RoboGames (the event at RoboGames was called "Robot Shooting
Gallery") from 2009 until 2013.

We really love robotics and wanted to bring the contest back but wanted it to
be more programmer-friendly. We're hoping that a simple reference design and
less mechanically-challenging contest will get more CS folks interested and
participating.

[1]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=fryguy](https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=fryguy)

~~~
alvarop
Thanks for organizing! I did it back in DEFCON 14 and had a blast!

Where's a good place to discuss/ask questions about the rules?

EDIT: Just found
[https://github.com/Defconbots/2014_Competition_Rules/issues](https://github.com/Defconbots/2014_Competition_Rules/issues)

------
droopybuns
2014 is the year Defcon abandons all pretenses that they were not a
fed/military recruiting event.

~~~
fryguy
I've never been on the other side of a conspiracy theory. This is interesting.

~~~
droopybuns
Achievement unlocked!

------
yankoff
Awesome! That goes really well with the upcoming course on Controlling Mobile
Robots I was gonna take
[https://www.coursera.org/course/conrob](https://www.coursera.org/course/conrob)

~~~
legogt
Magnus's Finite Automata course was one of my favorites at GaTech and I'm sure
you won't be disappointed with his Coursera offering.

Anyone in the Santa Monica/LA area want to take a stab at this competition?

------
johnmurch
"at moving and illuminated targets" \- anyone know what size they might be?

~~~
whosbein
Unless I missed something, I believe they're all ping-pong balls which are
listed at 40mm in diameter.

~~~
johnmurch
Ah - totally missed that. Thanks - Do we know if they will turn off after
being "hit" for >300ms

------
epoxyhockey
This sounds like fun. Perhaps Gen. Alexander could be invited to MC the event.

------
X-Istence
I'm looking forward to seeing this being submitted as a contest/event :-). It
also reminds me I need to update the site!

------
etanazir
Show me your security credentials and I might compete in a secret event; but
not sharing my thoughts with every body.

~~~
jotux
Secret?

------
PaulSec
Seems so much fun. What would be the Hackers News's features for this robot ?
:)

------
Qworg
Would people who do this professionally be part of the general competition?

~~~
jotux
There is no ban on computer vision professionals. I'm sure we'll have at least
a few competing.

------
bergie3000
Where will the contest take place?

