The Micro-Rato Contest: Mobile Robotics for All

Abstract

The Micro-Rato Contest of the University of Aveiro is a competition among small autonomous and mobile robots. Organised by the Electronics and Telecommunications Department of that university (DETUA), the contest aims at promoting, in a festival-like environment, the practical and integrated use of several topics typically taught in electronics courses. The teams, mainly formed by undergraduate students, develop their robots aside the courses formal curricula. Along its past 5 editions, the Micro-Rato Contest has had a growing participation, either in number of teams as well as in audience. It is, today, a relatively well known initiative all over the country, particularly in universities and institutes offering degrees in robotics, electronics or computer science. This paper provides an overview of the contest, starting by a brief history covering its evolution. It also includes a small description of the rules, technical specifications and support, as well as a brief profile of some of the robots which performed best in the 1999 edition.