ABU Robocon 2021's Rulebook on the theme of "Throwing Arrows into Pots ~The ABU Robocon 20th Anniversary Game~" is coming soon. It was developed and formulated by the CURC Organization Committee under the guidance and attention of the ABU ROBOCON Tokyo Secretariat and Shandong Radio and Television Station.
In August 2019, the Tokyo Secretariat consulted with Shandong Television Station and decided that the ABU Robocon 2021 would hosted by SDRT. After the first successful event held in China in 2005, it will be another ABU Robocon event in China 16 years later. For such a contest with long history, high technical difficulties, highly praised by the majority of students, "the play method ", that is, the game rule becomes one of the most concerned issues by organizers. It is also the key related to whether the event is successful, the game is wonderful, the scene is good, the technical difficulty is appropriate, and the implementation is feasible.
CURC Organizing Committee is honored to be invited by SDRT to assist the Host. To make the preparation of the ABU Robocon 2021 perfect, some organizations such as the Organizing Committee, the Executive Committee, the Secretariat and the Competition Committee, are formed, and the formulation of the rules fell on the shoulders of the CURC.
In September 2019, CURC issued a notice to call for the contest theme. Students, team members of previous contests from many universities in China and even business people responded enthusiastically and participated actively. In a short time about one month, 168 unique proposals were submitted. CURC invited experts to discuss and screen, and finally determined two themes as options, one is the Gentleman’s Six Skills, and another is the Thumping Balls. Then, the two groups implemented developed the game concepts for the two themes respectively.
 

Two initially envisaged game fields
 

Soon, the CURC members went to SDRT on October 19, 2019 to report on two major themes and preliminary game concepts. The background stories of the two themes and the novel and wonderful game methods attracted great interest from Shandong TV station colleagues. After ardent discussion, the highlights and technical features of ancient culture were analyzed and integrated，however, the two themes remain difficult to choose from. After the meeting, the repeated discussion-revision made the ideas refined continuously, and two new versions of the game concepts were formed to report to the Tokyo Secretariat.
 

Detailed statements & Ardent discussion
 

On December 11, 2019, Mr. Arai and Mr. Yoshida of the Tokyo Secretariat came to SDRT and discussed and studied the themes and game concepts in detail with the China Organizing Committee under the excellent translation of Mr. Zhang Qi. Then, they visited the contest venue Jimo chuangzhi New Area Sports Center. After meeting, we revised the game concepts and changed the theme of Thumping Balls as “Touhu”, that is Throwing Arrows into Pots, and it was approved by Tokyo Secretariat.
 

Earnest counsel & Careful observation
 

The sudden outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in the world wide disrupted our normal pace of work, mercilessly tore our face-to-face friendly communication. ABU Robocon 2021 preparation was seriously affected. Our most common way of working is to have video conferences or send email to exchange new ideas. During the worst of the epidemic, the Competition Committee members did not stop working for a day. We kept meeting, discussing, designing, producing and experimenting, and visiting manufacturers when the epidemic allowed. During this period, we also held three video meetings with the Tokyo Secretariat to discuss the game rulebook carefully.
 

Frequent video conferences
 

Looking back at this process, it is very important to choose the theme, but the determination of the theme is the beginning of the long journey. The shape of the game field, the setting of the functional area, the structural design of the field facilities, the interference in the match, the running range and the tasks of the robot, the limits to the robot, the scoring conditions, the condition of "Great Victory", even the convenience of camera shooting, etc., should be carefully considered. They relate to each other and influence each other, as the saying goes," pull one hair to move the whole body ". Every change needs to be discussed repeatedly. Each step of our progress has been guided directly, meticulously and concretely by the Tokyo secretariat.
To the pain of our Roboconists, in the wait, attention, expectation and hope, the contest event in Fiji in August 2020 was cancelled due to epidemic. This is the first time in Robocon history, but also put forward a difficult problem — what can we do for the contest in next year? The Tokyo Secretariat observantly predicted the impact of next year's epidemic on the Robocon event in China, proposed online contest as a preplan, Plan B, and hoped that the "real game rulebook" and "online game rulebook" would be released at the same time. This "online contest" is really a game, not a showcase. After nearly 10 months of taking exercise, only in two weeks, based on the "real game rulebook", CURC perfectly completed the formulation of "online game rulebook" in the fastest speed and with the most likely taste of the game. The Tokyo Secretariat highly valued and admired such efficient work.
Only after walked, the hardships along the road can be known, and only after did something, the meaning of seriousness and perfection can be learned about. For CURC, this is a successful international cooperation and valuable experience accumulation, which will benefit the growth and development of Robocon in China.
We hope that the " Throwing Arrows into Pots ~The ABU Robocon 20th Anniversary Game~" Rulebook will guide you into a brilliant ABU ROBOCON feast! Welcome to Jimo, all Roboconists!
 

Writen by China University Robot Contest (CURC) Organization Committee
7 Sep., 2020