The Winning Robots from the 1993 Robot Competition

The 1993 robot competition consisted of three distinct events: (1) Escape from the Office, (2) Office Delivery, and (3) Office Rearrangement. The unifying theme for these events was autonomous robotics in realistic office environments. In the first event, Escape from the Office, the objective was to maneuver out of a confined space, simultaneously avoiding realworld office furniture, including difficult-tosee objects such as chairs and tables with thin legs, and then to quickly complete a slalom course and recognize the finish wall. In the second event, Office Delivery, the objective was to self-locate using an office map, search an area for a given object (a coffeepot), and then navigate to a specified delivery area. In the third event, Office Rearrangement, the objective was to modify the office environment by identifying and maneuvering appropriate boxes to create a specified pattern at the goal location. These events present a significant challenge to the robotics community by testing many skills that a truly autonomous mobile robot must demonstrate. The results of the competition were as follows: Event 1: Escape from the Office Stanford University, First Place California Institute of Technology, Second Place