The group is comprised of myself, James Y. Wilson (MVP), Samuel Phung (Exec. MVP - ICOP), and Scott Davis (Microsoft Embedded Group).

The challenge is to develop an MSRS application that runs under Windows CE (on the eBox-2300), which can solve a maze using our Stinger CE robotics kit.  It sounds pretty simple, but it's not as easy as you may think.

The WERoC Stinger CE Kit basically comes with a Serializer WL, RS-232 module, Line Following Sensor, Push Button I/O Board, an eBox-2300, and a Logitech Quickcam Pro 5000.  Using these sensors, the robot must traverse a maze (that we have designed), and find the end in the shortest amount of time.

The maze can be solved using only the Line Following Sensor.  However, "Road Signs" are located along the maze path to tell the robot which direction to take at the next intersection to find the shortest path to the end of the maze.   Users can use the Web Cam to take a picture of the signs, analyze them, and determine the proper direction to take as it is traversing the maze.

We provide a Stinger CE MSRS User Guide, and sample services (for MSRS) to help the user get started.  The User Guide is pretty in depth, and has a lot of useful diagrams to help customers better understand how the Services work.  We also wrote a 'SerializerLite' service, which provides functionality to query the set of included sensors, and control the motors (using PID) in a compact and optimized manner.   We also provide an orchestration service which implements the Line Following and Maze Solving algorithms, as well as ties the SerializerLite and VisionRecognition service (written by James Y. Wilson) together.

So, this forum is for those ADEs (Academic Developer Evangelists) and MSR (Microsoft Research) faculty involved in the WERoC competition/curriculum.

We will be posting more information in the coming week.

Best Regards,

Jason Summerour
President,
Summerour Robotics Corporation
Microsoft MVP
www.roboticsconnection.com