The Taiwan 2012 micromouse and intelligent robot contest is only five days away. I have spent a huge amount of time in the last few weeks trying to turn my latest code re-write into a working mouse. This could all have been a lot less stressful if I had done…
For a few weeks now, I have been struggling with strange behaviour on the micromouse. This version is Decimus 2C. It is the build that ran (poorly) at the UK contest in the summer of 2012. It did not do well so I have been trying to get it all tidy for the Taiwan contest next week. (more…)
The Taiwan 2011 Micromouse and intelligent Robots Contest was a great success. Our primary contest organiser Juing-Huei Su has evidently been busy with the vido editing software as he has now uploaded the contest videos… (more…)
While there are several flights available out of Taiwan, it was convenient for me to take the late, overnight flight. It does not leave until 10:45pm so that gives an entire day in which to visit some more of the island. Efficient transport and a small island make it quite possible to go just about anywhere. This time, I chose to take the cable car up to the mountains near Taipei Zoo. (more…)
After the excitement of the contest day, we all had the opportunity to play tourist as we were treated to a day out visiting some of Taiwan’s attractions. This was a great chance to visit places in Taiwan with local guides and help to explain everything. While not a large island, Taiwan has much to offer visitors. The west is where most people live since pretty well two thirds of the land area is mountainous.
Day two was Sunday September 25th – contest day at the 2011 Taiwan Micromouse and Intelligent Robotics Contest. After an intense period or preparation with the re-write of nearly all the code on on my mouse, it was time to put it all to the test… (more…)
When I last had the chance to visit Taiwan for a micromouse contest, I was pretty sure it would be the first and last such opportunity. And yet, here I am again, two years later, excited to be back in this fascinating country with such welcoming hosts.
On October 2nd, the 2010 Taiwan micromouse contest was held at Southern Taiwan University. The hosts took first and second prize in the micromouse contest with Lung Hwa University taking third place along with first and third in the robotrace line follower contest. For a more complete report from Juing-Huei,…
Monday was our tourist day. The pressures of the competition were behind us and we could relax a bit while discovering more about Taiwan. The idea was that we would get the non-tourist tour of this part of the island. Taiwan is more than large enough to occupy any tourist for a good amount of time so this was always going to be a bit of a whistle-stop tour. Nonetheless, we got to visit some fascinating places and I would very much like to be able to go back and spend some more time in some of them. (more…)
Sunday – the big day. Saturday had given me a good opportunity to meet a few people, see the venue and get my mouse adjusted for the local maze conditions but this was it – competition day. We got off to an early start today. Breakfast was at 06:30 and I went down to be confronted with a huge variety of interesting option. I was told later that many of the things I chose were pickles rather than actual dishes so I had to go back and get some more. As it turns out, food was to play a big part in the day’s activities.