The PAReX group is holding an autonomous robotics competition this December 1st, from 10am to 3pm, with events in maze solving, mini sumo and line following.
for more information, see:
http://www.parex.org/autoevent1.shtml
I’m planning to enter a robot in the Maze Solving category. I found a pretty kicking single board computer (the Atmel NGW100) to use as the brains for the thing. I plan on using my VEX servomotors and metal bits to construct a prototype frame, and ordered some Sharp GP2D12 and GP2D120 distance sensors to use for navigation. My goal is to keep it simple, and focus on building reusable components. I plan to program PIC microcontrollers to do peripheral control, leaving the main board free to do the high level decision making bits. Also, because the SBC runs linux (its kickin’, I tell you), I am planning to write the main controller in Python (or a similar language), so that it is easier to reconfigure and tune.