OFFICIAL RULES 2012 ATMEL ROBOTICS CONTEST

®

The 2012 Atmel Robotics Contest (“Contest”), which is sponsored by Atmel Corporation (“Atmel”), begins at 12:01 AM (Pacific Time) on March 26th, 2012, and the deadline for entries is 5:00 PM (Pacific Time) on May 15, 2012. The Contest recognizes outstanding innovation and achievement by university students in the creation of robotic devices using Atmel components. Section I: Eligible Entrants The Contest is open to individuals or teams of individuals who (1) are 18 years old or older, (2) are full-time college or university students, (3) reside in North America (except Quebec), South America, or Europe, and (4) register with Atmel. Each registration application must include the entrant’s name, address, telephone number, and email address and, in the case of teams, the same information for each member of the team. Employees of Atmel, its affiliates, subsidiaries, resellers, and advertising and promotional agencies, and their immediate families, are not eligible to participate in the Contest. Section II: Contest Judging The judges will consist of a committee of Atmel employees. The decisions of these judges will be final. There are two levels of entrant, Intermediate and Advanced: (1) The Intermediate level will allow real-time control to assist the robot in completing a defined task. The judging criteria will also take into account how much or how little extra direct user input control is needed; and (2) The Advanced level will require that the robot attempt to complete the defined task in full autonomous mode. (This means that information may be transmitted back to a host base station to allow monitoring of the robotic but no data, commands or other information may be transmitted to the robot once it has been commanded to start the task.) The judges will judge both Intermediate and Advanced entries using the following criteria: (1)

Uniqueness and elegance of the design;

(2)

Robustness and fault tolerance of the controlling software;

(3)

Time in which robotic device completes the defined task;

(4)

Accuracy of defined task performance;

(5)

Efficiency, i.e., power required from battery, amount of computing power needed

for completion of the defined task, and size and complexity of code; and (6)

Ability to recover from errors in operation.

Section III: Conduct of Contest (1)

The Contest will be conducted in three phases, Design, Implementation and Final:

(A) The Design phase requires an entrant to submit a design for a robot that complies with these Rules on or before May 18, 2012. This design submission must be in a standard PDF file, in English and no more than 30 pages in length. It must contain sufficient text, diagrams, and flow charts to fully describe the proposed solution. In order to provide timely processing of the entries of the Design Phase, the Atmel judging panel will not contact the contest team members for clarification on information submitted in the submitted design.

(B) In the Implementation phase, Atmel will select 100 submitted designs and invite their entrants to purchase an 4WD robot platform and an Atmel developer kit through a link at the Contest website. Atmel will provide the developer kit to entrants at a minimum cost. After entrants construct their robots, they each, by August 1, 2012, must provide a digital video file in H.264 / AVI or other standard format that documents a robot solving the following assigned tasks, in accordance with the task environments posted at the Contest website and the applicable rules governing the standard playing field (which are set out below): (i) Intermediate: (a) Sort two golf balls from two ping pong balls; and (b) carry three golf balls one at a time through a maze to the other side of playing field and deposit them into proper bins. Entrants may use real-time control to assist the robot in completing the defined task. The judging criteria will also take into account how much or how little extra direct user input control is needed for completion of the task. (ii) Advanced: (a) Sort two golf balls from ping pong balls; and (b) carry two golf balls through a maze, i.e., without human or digital assistance, one at a time to the other side of playing field and deposit into proper bins. While information may be transmitted back to a host base station to allow monitoring of the robot, no data, commands or other information may be transmitted to the robot once the entrant commands it to start the task. (iiI) The complete specification for the playing field is available for download as a separate document (will be provided on the website soon). This specification outlines in detail the construction of the playing field, the height and location of the ball stands, the definition of the maze and specific surface markings. Atmel reserves the right to submit minor updates and refinements to the playing field up until one month before final video submissions are due to address possible concerns with the ability to complete the ball sorting task within a reasonable amount of time. (C) In the Final phase, Atmel will invite six finalists, consisting of the top three Intermediate and the top three Advanced entries to bring their robots to the Atmel Technology Live developer conference in San Jose, California, for the final competition on September 13, 2012. Atmel will pay all expenses for each entrant’s travel to and from the competition and for each entrant’s expenses of lodging and food while at the competition. At the final competition, each entrant will be allowed three attempts to complete the task in three separate rounds, which

will allow for tuning of software or procedures between attempts. Three winners will be chosen from the six finalists. (2) Only registered entrants may submit designs or robots. Each design and robot submission must be the original work and sole and exclusive property of the person or team. Team entries are permitted where (a) more than one person could claim to be the entry’s creator and (b) each such person is part of the team. A team may consist of no more than four individuals. (3) Each constructed robot must be based mechanically on the 4WD platform as noted below in Figure 1 and use any single or combination of Atmel-based microcontrollers to complete the ball sorting tasks as outlined below (A). The primary drive source will be the 4 wheels as supplied by the Arduino 4WD kit. The drive motors and all other aspects of the drive train may be modified accordingly, but the primary drive system must be based on rotating the 4 wheels of the robotic to move. The drive motors as supplied with kits may be replaced with more powerful or brushless DC motors as required. (B) Each constructed robot must be based on the Arduino 4WD platform. The ® microcontroller board must be from Atmel: the Atmel XMEGA Xplained, Atmel UC3 Xplained or the Atmel SAM4S Xplained, all of which may be purchased directly from Atmel at the entry website. Other than fixed function modules such as Bluetooth or WiFi, all core microcontrollers and processors used in an entry must be Atmel microcontrollers. C) Each design must be powered by a battery or battery pack: (1) having no 24 volts open circuit and 3 ampere short circuit, (2) which is protected against short circuit conditions and will not produce any smoke, flame or noxious gas if the robot overturns or becomes damaged, and (3) includes a readily accessible manual safety stop switch for use in a case of platform runaway. . (4) No projectiles, tethered or un-tethered, may be used on the robot platform. (D) All command, control and data streams must use a RF datalink. No umbilical cord may supply power or data to the robot. While extra credit in judging will be given to RF link solution using the Atmel solutions, other third-party modules may be used as long as the primary function of this module is only to enable RF communication between the robot and a host PC. . (E) The total weight of the robot may not exceed 2.5 kg. Any compressed gas used in the implementation of actuators or other additional mechanical systems added to the robot platform must be non-toxic and non-flammable. Any hydraulic systems must operate on pressure of 35 psi or lower.

(5) The playing field\ used for the creation of the submitted digital video files may not include external sensors, lights, markers or any other material, component or active system on the walls or any interior surfaces or within the standard playing field UNLESS this material, component or active system is placed there by the robot itself. The arena playing surface must not be permanently marked or modified in any way. (6)

All design entries must include: (A)

The robot’s name;

(B)

An abstract describing the robot design; and

(C)

The robot design itself.

(7) Each entry must be (a) independently created and (b) either novel or a novel improvement to an existing design or product. Entrants may consult with other persons provided that: (A) To the extent that any consulted individual has an interest in intellectual property provided to the entrant for use in the Contest, the entrant must be able to document that the consulted individual intends to place that intellectual property into the public domain. (8) Entries must not (a) have been published anywhere in the world in any language; (b) except as provided in these rules, known to others who are not entrants; (c) have been the subject of a public presentation; or (d) have been offered or advertised for sale at any time prior to the day prizes are awarded. If an entrant already has filed a patent application for the entry, then the contents of that patent application must not be published or the patented design or application be produced at any time during the Contest’s pendency. Section IV: Submission Instructions (1) Contest entries must be received on or before the deadlines set out in these rules. Entries received after any deadline, for whatever reason, will be disqualified. No exceptions will be made. (2)

All designs and digital files must be submitted electronically on the registration form

(3) Upon receipt, all entries become Atmel’s property without monetary compensation to the entrant, and will not be returned. Section V: Prizes Along with the prizes below the top six finalists (3 for each category) will be flown and set up in San Jose, CA and will be able to attend the Developer Conference in September 2012. Prizes will be awarded as follows: (1)

First place: Student laptop

(2)

Second place: Android Tablet

(3)

Third place: HP 15C scientific calculators

Section VI: Other Terms and Conditions (1) Winners will be announced on September 13, 2012, at the Atmel Technology Live developer conference.. Prizes are non-transferable. Winners are responsible for all applicable taxes and other fees due by virtue of the winners’ receipt of their prizes; by entering this Contest, the entrant acknowledges that there may be substantial tax, duties, or other governmental obligations if the entrant wins a prize, including income taxes, use taxes, customs duties, license fees, or registration fees. Atmel reserves the right to substitute another prize of equal or greater value for any prize listed herein. Delivery times are subject to product availability. To the greatest extent permitted by law, Atmel reserves the right to end this contest prior to its expected termination date or change these rules with or without notice to the public. (2) The award of any prize is contingent on the winner furnishing to Atmel, at an address Atmel specifies, a fully executed affirmation of eligibility and ownership and general publicity release that includes but is not limited to (A) a representation and warranty that the winner is the rightful owner of the Contest entry and has not infringed upon any third party’s rights; (B) permission to Atmel and its advertising agencies to use statements, quotes, testimonials, photographs, designs, models, software, and any other materials provided by the entrant, as well as the entrant’s name, photograph and other depictions of likeness (and, in the case of teams, the same materials for each member of the team), for advertising, marketing, or other promotional purposes and, to the greatest extent permitted by law, without any additional compensation to the entrant; and (C) an acknowledgment that the winner will provide such information as Atmel reasonably may require regarding the winner and winning entry. Each winner must submit the affirmation of eligibility and ownership and general publicity release within sixty (60) days of notification of winning or the winner will forfeit the prize. If a winner forfeits a prize, that prize will not be awarded. (3) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in these rules, (A) the entrant retains ownership of all intellectual property rights in the entry, subject to the specific rights granted to Atmel in this section, and (B) nothing in these rules shall be construed to deprive Atmel of the right to develop, independently of the Contest entries, products or technologies that are similar to those in the entries, provided that Atmel does not use intellectual property owned by the entrants. (4) All national, federal, state, provincial, local, or other jurisdictional laws and regulations apply to this Contest. This Contest is void in Quebec and where prohibited or otherwise restricted by law. (5) BY ACCEPTING DELIVERY OF ANY PRIZE, EACH ENTRANT ACKNOWLEDGES THAT THE PRIZE IS AWARDED ON THE CONDITION THAT ATMEL AND ITS AGENTS, REPRESENTATIVES, AND EMPLOYEES WILL HAVE NO LIABILITY WHATSOEVER FOR ANY INJURIES, LOSSES OR DAMAGES OF ANY KIND RESULTING FROM ACCEPTANCE, POSSESSION OR USE OF THE PRIZE. (6) Atmel is not responsible for any typographical or other errors in the printing of the Contest rules, administration of the contest or in the announcement of the prizes, or for the failure of entries to be delivered, or for the late delivery of entries, to Atmel by any postal or delivery service. (7) To the extent permitted by law, these rules shall be interpreted, and this Contest shall be conducted, in accordance with California law, without giving effect to choice of law provisions. All disputes concerning these rules and this Contest shall be adjudicated in the federal or state courts having jurisdiction over Santa Clara County, California, USA. If any provision in these rules is held to be illegal or unenforceable, that provision shall be limited or eliminated to the minimum

extent necessary so that these rules shall otherwise remain in full force and effect and enforceable to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law. (8) By entering this Contest, each entrant will be deemed to have read, accepted and agreed to be bound by these rules.