TheFirst Robot Olympics.[1] took place inGlasgow,[2]Scotland on 27–28 September 1990.[3]
The event was run by TheTuring Institute at the Sports Centre at theUniversity of Strathclyde. It featured 68 robots from 12 countries and involved over 2,500 visitors over the two-day period.[4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]
During the 1990sthe Turing Institute had been involved in a wide range of robotics activities and had developed links with many leading robotics laboratories as a result of both student exchange and a series of collaborative research projects.[12]
The event was conceived and directed by DrPeter Mowforth, director of the Turing Institute, as an events-based meetup for robot enthusiasts and builders.[13][14] Although there had been single event competitions and national events for competing robots, this was the first time that such a large, varied and internationalRobot Competition had taken place.[15]
Many of the robots that came to the event reflected key research themes that were present at the time. For example, the two-wheeled balancing 'torch carrying' (pre-Segway) robot[16] that opened the event was associated with the institute's work on using machine learning applied to theinverted pendulum[17]
Strathclyde University was an academic associate of and adjacent to the Turing Institute.[18] The university made their sports hall complex available for the two-day event.
| EVENT | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|
| Obstacle Avoidance | ASTERIX.University of Toronto, Canada.Anthony Green & Pavel Rozalski | OSCAR. AI Dept. Edinburgh University. Scotland | YAMABICO.Tsukuba University, Japan. Shoji Suzuki |
| Pole Balancing | PENDULUM. Salford University, England. F Nagy & G A Medrano-Derda | LANKY. Lancaster University, England | MENACE, Turing Institute, Scotland. Bing Zhang |
| Phototrophic | ALPHA PHOTON. Kent University, England. David Bisset | ICARUS. The Shadow Group, England. David Buckley. | |
| Manipulators | BELGRADE/USC HAND. University of Belgrade, Yugoslavia | BCI. St Patricks High School, Coatbridge, Scotland. | |
| Biped Race | CARDIFF BIPED.[19] Uni. Wales, Cardiff, Wales. Paul Channon, Simon Hopkins & Prof Pham | ROBBIE. Paisley College of Technology, Scotland. Ken MacFarlane, Gordon Allan | |
| Javelin | YORK ARCHER. Museum of Automata, York, England | WILBERFORCE. East London Polytechnic, England. Martin Smith | ELEPHANTS TRUNK. Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, Scotland. J B C Davies, J Morrison |
| Multi-Legged Race | PENELOPE. Edinburgh University, Scotland. D J Todd | GENGHIS. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, AI Lab, US. Olaf Beck, Prof. Rodney Brookes & Colin Angle | |
| Wall Following | YAMABICO.Tsukuba University, Japan. Shoji Suzuki | SAM. Kent University, England. David Bisset, Jason Garforth, Jeremy Laycock | |
| Talking | RICHARD 1ST. Turing Institute, Scotland. Ketil Undbekken, Peter Mowforth | SHADOW WALKER. The Shadow Group, London, England. David Buckley | |
| Wall Climbing | ZIG ZAG. Portsmouth Polytechnic, England. A A Collie,[20] J Billingsley, R P Smith | RVP II. Soviet Academy of Sciences, Moscow, USSR. Professor Chernousko, Professor Gradetsky | RVP I. Soviet Academy of Sciences, Moscow, USSR. Professor Chernousko, Professor Gradetsky[21] |
| Behaviour | GENGHIS. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, AI Lab, US. Olaf Beck, Prof. Rodney Brookes & Colin Angle | SHEEP & SHEEP DOG. Computer Science, Strathclyde Uni. Scotland | SIAS. City Montessori School, Lucknow, India. Mr Ashish Panwar |
| Country | Gold (3 points) | Silver (2 points) | Bronze (1 Point) | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| England | 4 | 5 | 0 | 22 |
| Scotland | 2 | 4 | 2 | 16 |
| USA | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
| Japan | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| USSR | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Canada | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Yugoslavia | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Wales | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| India | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Mexico | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Four judges supervised the events to ensure 'fair play'. They were:
| Robot | Event | Reason for disqualification |
|---|---|---|
| YAMABICO, Japan | Talking | Could not speak English |
| SIAS, India | Talking | Completely incomprehensible |
| ROBUG II, England | Wall Climbing | Veering out of lane and demonstrating inappropriate behaviour in front of children. |
| MEXBOT, Mexico | Multi-Legged Race | Damaged during transportation. Dropped when offloaded from ship in UK. |
Several organisions provided special awards for different categories of competition.
IEEE Robotics & Automation Society Young Roboticist Award Brian Carr (School pupil), St Patricks High School, Coatbridge, Scotland.Awarded £25 book token.
NatWest Bank Prize for Technology Transfer Olaf Beck, Prof. Rodney Brookes & Colin Angle, Massachusetts Institute of Technology MIT, AI Lab, USAAwarded with a Caithness Crystal bowl and £200 fromNatWest Bank.
'Turing Institute Best School Prize' XYBOT Inverkeithing School, Class 7S, Scotland.Awarded with a cup and a cheque for £100.
'Olympic Champion' YAMABICO from Tsukuba University, Japan. Prize given to Shoji Suzuki.Awarded with a Caithness Glass Trophy.
As well as being organised by The Turing Institute and hosted by the University of Strathclyde, the event had seven main sponsors: