The Find-Life-on-Mars Event

The Find-Life-on-Mars event of the 1997 American Association for Artificial Intelligence Mobile Robot Competition and Exhibition featured robots trying to find and collect stationary and moving colored objects in an arena littered with real rocks. The 2-day event had 11 entries participating in both single-robot and multirobot categories, both with and without manipulators. During the event, many of the robots successfully demonstrated object recognition, obstacle avoidance, exploration, and the collection and depositing of objects. The general concept was to have the robots locate, collect, and deliver a variety of "life forms," including both stationary and moving objects. Technically, the event was designed to highlight mobile manipulation, object recognition, exploration, and obstacle avoidance in a relatively unstructured environment.