MathWorks Minidrone Competition

Rules and Guidelines

Table of Contents
A. Competition Overview .......................................................................................................................... 2
B. Round 1: Simulation Round .................................................................................................................. 3
B.1 Pre-work........................................................................................................................................ 3
B.2 Rules .............................................................................................................................................. 3
B.3 Judging .......................................................................................................................................... 3
B.4 Submission .................................................................................................................................... 4
C. Round 2: Simulation and Deployment Round OR Virtual Round.......................................................... 7
C.1 Simulation and Deployment Round .............................................................................................. 7
C.1.1 General Guidelines ................................................................................................................ 7
C.1.2 Competition Set-Up .............................................................................................................. 7
C.1.3 Scoring and Judging............................................................................................................... 7
C.2 Virtual Round ................................................................................................................................ 9
C.2.1 Scoring and Judging............................................................................................................... 9
C.2.2 Video Submission ................................................................................................................ 10
C.2.3 Competition Set-Up ............................................................................................................ 10
D. Arena Details ....................................................................................................................................... 11
E. Safety Rules ......................................................................................................................................... 12
F. Participation Requirements ................................................................................................................ 12
G. Reference Material ............................................................................................................................. 13

This document was last updated in July 2024.

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A. Competition Overview
The MathWorks Minidrone Competition will introduce participants to Model-Based Design using
Simulink.

The competition consists of two rounds:

• Round 1 Simulation Round Teams will work virtually on designing a Minidrone line follower
algorithm. Teams will need to use their modeling skills to refine a Simulink model.
• Round 2
• Simulation and Hardware Deployment Round The teams that qualify from Round 1
will be invited to the Round 2 live event. Teams will deploy their Simulink model at
the live event on the Parrot Mambo Minidrone hardware using the Simulink Support
Package for Parrot Minidrones. OR
• Virtual Round The teams that qualify from Round 1 will be invited to join virtual
Round 2 event. During the virtual event, a short video submitted by the teams about
the approach used to solve the problem will be showcased. This will be followed by
some questions and answers with the team captain.

MathWorks will provide each participating team with complimentary software to work on the
problem statement. The teams will also be provided with the Parrot Mambo Fly drone, batteries
and, dongle on the day of the competition in case of an in-person event.

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B. Round 1: Simulation Round
This is the virtual round of the competition which will aim at performing the line follower task in
simulation using Simulink.

B.1 Pre-work
• Participating teams are expected to complete MATLAB Onramp, Simulink Onramp, and
Stateflow Onramp courses before starting to work on their algorithm.
• It is recommended that participating teams view the video series MathWorks Minidrone
Competition to better understand the competition details.

B.2 Rules
• Teams can use only the latest release of Simulink and related MathWorks products to
complete the task. For example, if the simulation round of the competition was
launched when R20220b was the latest release, the teams are expected to use R20220b
for Round 2 of the competition even if R20231a may be released by that time the
submissions are due.
• The complete logic for the task completion must be contained in the
parrotMinidroneCompetition folder that the teams submit for Round 1 evaluations.
• Use the below command to launch the Parrot Minidrone Competition project:
parrotMinidroneCompetitionStart;
• The models that the teams submit should be code generation capable. More details
about this can be found in this video.
• A team can have minimum 2 and maximum 4 members. If there are any changes in the
team structure, the application form for the competition must be resubmitted and an e-
mail about the same should be dropped to [email protected].

B.3 Judging
• This round will be judged by MathWorks engineers.
• The model will be evaluated based on the capability of completing the line follower
track followed by landing on the circular marker.
• The model must be code generation capable.
• The model will be tested on multiple tracks with multiple number of track sections
oriented at different angles. The color of the track for the simulation round will be Red
(#FF0000). More details about the arena can be found in Arena Details.
• The model performance will be verified using an internal judging interface prioritizing
the algorithm in the following order of importance:
o Code generation capability of the model
o Number of tracks completed by the Minidrone including soft landing on the circular
marker
o Accuracy of the path traced by the drone with respect to the track laid in the
Simulink 3D environment
o Time taken by the drone to complete a track

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 • The most efficient and accurate algorithms that complete maximum number of tracks in
the shortest simulation time will be shortlisted for Round 2.
• The decision made by the judges will be final.

B.4 Submission
To submit an entry, the team captain needs to send the Project files to MathWorks. To do
so, please use the following guidelines.

1. Ensure the correct folder structure:

• Ensure that you retain the original file and folder structure from the
parrotMinidroneCompetition project (from the Simulink Support Package for Parrot
Minidrones). The original folder structure looks like the following:

• Ensure that all the Simulink models and MATLAB files have the same names as in the
original parrotMinidroneCompetition project.
• Do not add any Simulink models or MATLAB files to the subfolders. If you have
written any additional MATLAB files or Simulink models, you can add them to the
main parrotMinidroneCompetition model folder. For example, if you have created a
new file supporting your model called myFile.m, add the file to the folder as shown
by the screenshot with the check mark. Do not add the files inside a subfolder:

myFile.m outside the subfolders myFile.m present inside a subfolder

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2. Add additional files to the project

Note: Move to (3) Submit Project Archive if there aren’t any additional files to be added.
• Add the necessary files to the Project by navigating to Project tab

• Select Run Checks -> Add Files.

• Check the boxes for the necessary files and click OK.

3. Submit the Project Archive

• In the Projects folder, click on Share and then select Archive or E-mail.

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• Select Export Profile as ‘Whole Project’ and name the Project Archive as
<TeamName> where <TeamName> is the name of your team.
• Send the Project Archive (.mlproj) to [email protected] with
the subject as ‘<TeamName> at <EventName> <EventYear>’ where
<EventName> is the name of the event as found on the web page for the
competition (often a location, conference, or university) and <EventYear> is the
year when the deployment round of the competition is to be held. For example, if
your team name is ‘Drone Squad’ and you are participating in the event at IROS
2019, your email would be titled ‘Drone Squad at IROS 2019’.
• The Team Captain should submit the model using their registered email address.

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C. Round 2: Simulation and Deployment Round OR Virtual Round
Round 2 could be a an in-person round or a virtual round. Please refer to Section C.1. if the
competition you are participating has an in-person round. Refer to section C.2 if the competition will
be held virtually.

C.1 Simulation and Deployment Round

C.1.1 General Guidelines
• Round 2 of the competition will be judged by a designated set of engineers organizing the
event.
• Round 2 of the competition will be judged by a designated set of engineers organizing the
event.
• The Minidrone should follow the line follower track laid on the arena and land on the End
Circular Marker in the shortest time to win.
• Teams will be ranked in the ascending order of time taken to complete the track and land on
the circular marker.
• The track will be divided into multiple sections. The track will have only straight lines and no
smooth curves.
• The track will be disclosed to the teams only on the day of the deployment round.
• The track layout can differ between Practice Round and the Live Round. However, the color
of the track will remain the same.

C.1.2 Competition Set-Up

The deployment round will be one- or two-day event. The competition will be divided into two
parts:
a. Practice Round:
• In this round, each team gets two slots of 15 minutes each in the Arena to calibrate
their model gains and thresholds.
Performance of the Minidrone during this round will not be considered to declare
the winners.
b. Live Round:
• Each team will get one 15-minute assigned slot in the arena. This includes the setup
time and the Minidrone flight.
• Each team gets maximum 7 chances during the 15 minutes to fly the Minidrone.

Note: The time allocated for each round may vary depending on the judge and will be
communicated to the teams by the judge before the round begins.

C.1.3 Scoring and Judging

• The judge will be responsible for assessing the Minidrone’s Stage in each Minidrone run.
• The decision of the judges will be final.
• The scoring will be based on the conditions if the team has landed their drone correctly on
the circular marker or not:
o If the drone is in Stage Complete*:
▪ The time factor will come into account only when the drone is in Stage
Complete.

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 ▪ The team that reaches Stage Complete in the shortest time, wins the
competition.
▪ A team is in Stage Complete when the Minidrone bottom touches the
landing marker and stays there.
▪ The judge will note the time from the Minidrone’s takeoff to landing.
o If a team does not reach Stage Complete:
▪ The consistency of the algorithm will be considered.
▪ They will be ranked based on the farthest stage they have reached and the
number of times they reached it (so the team that reached the farthest
stage the highest number of times would be given a higher ranking).
o To understand the evaluations, let us take an example. Let’s assume that the
competition had 4 sections and seven teams in the final. We would name Stage
Land as Stage 5 and Stage Complete as Stage 6, for convenience (See *Note).

▪ Team IJK has been ranked higher than team ABC because team IJK completed
the task in the shortest time even though team ABC has completed Stage 6
(Stage Complete) a greater number of times in the seven attempts.
▪ The farthest stage team DEF and team PQR have reached is Stage 5. However,
team DEF has reached Stage 5 two times whereas team PQR has reached the
stage just once. Hence, team DEF has been ranked higher.

*
Note: The scoring criteria used for evaluation will be based on the maximum number of
section stages the Minidrone has completed. The following are the guidelines for the
division of the task into stages (N is the number of track sections):
o Stage 0: Take off complete
o Stage 1: Track Section 1 complete
o Stage 2: Track Section 2 complete
o Stage 3: Track Section 3 complete
o Stage 4: Track Section 4 complete
• .
• .
• .

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 o Stage N: Track Section N complete
o Stage Land: Landing Complete
o Stage Complete: Validating landing on the circular marker

A few examples of correct and incorrect landings are illustrated below:

Successful landings:

Complete minidrone landing on the circle A part of minidrone landing on the circle

Unsuccessful Landings:

Minidrone’s bumper hovering over the circle Minidrone landing upside down on the circle

C.2 Virtual Round

C.2.1 Scoring and Judging
• The top 5-7 teams from Round 1 will be shortlisted for the Round 2 which would be a virtual
round.
• The results for Round 2 will be based on the simulation performance of the teams in Round
1. Check Section B.3 for more details.

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 • The team captain must attend the virtual event to be eligible for a prize. If any of the teams
is not in attendance, their prize will be awarded to the next-placed team.
• The decision of the judges will be final.

C.2.2 Video Submission

• The top teams shortlisted for final round will submit a minimum 5 minute and maximum 7-
minute video about the approach used to solve the problem statement by the submission
deadline.
• The teams can consider the following structure for the presentation video, but not restricted
to the same:
o Team introduction
o Approach used to solve the problem
▪ Image processing subsystem
▪ Path Planning subsystem
o Challenges you faced and how did you tackle them
o Key learnings and takeaways
• The team captain has to e-mail the video to [email protected] by the
specified deadline with the title as ‘<TeamName> at <EventName> <EventYear>
video ’ where <EventName> is the name of the event as found on the web page for the
competition (often a location, conference, or university) and <EventYear> is the year
when the deployment round of the competition is to be held. For example, if your team
name is ‘Drone Squad’ and you are participating in the event at IROS 2019, your email would
be titled ‘Drone Squad at IROS 2019 video’.

C.2.3 Competition Set-Up

• The team captains must attend the virtual finals. It is recommended for the entire team to
attend the finals.
• The virtual round will be 90 to 150-minute virtual event.
• The details about the virtual session will be shared with the team captain. The team captain
must join the session 30 minutes in advance.
• The videos submitted by the team will be streamed on the virtual platform for the virtual
round.
• The organizers will also have a question and answer session with the team captain about the
video submissions and the approach used in the model. The audience would also be allowed
to ask questions to the team captain.
• The top 3 winners will be declared towards the end of the virtual event.

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D. Arena Details
This detail of the arena is valid for Round 1 as well as Round 2. The following are the details
about the arena track:

• The arena would be a 4-meter * 4-meter space enclosed by nets on all sides.
• The arena track will be 10 cm in width.
• The landing circular marker will have a diameter of 20 cm.
• The line follower track will consist of connected line segments only and will not have any
smooth curves at the connections.
• The angle between any two track sections could have a value between 10 degrees to 350
degrees.
• The track can have anywhere between 1 to 10 connected line segments. The initial
position of the drone will always be on the start of the line. However, the mouth of the
drone may not always face the direction of the first line on the track.
• The distance from the end of the track to the center of the circle will be 25 cm.
• The background on which the track will be laid may not be a single color and will have
texture.
• The color and the track for the in-person round will be disclosed on the day of the
competition.
• The track for the Practice Round and the Live Round may be different in case on an in-
person round.

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E. Safety Rules
These rules are applicable in case on an in-person final round.
• Teams will not be allowed to fly the Minidrone outside the arena.
• No team member can enter the Arena while the Minidrone is flying.
• No team member is allowed in the Arena during the Live Round. The Judge will oversee
placing the Minidrone at the necessary location on the track.
• Team members entering the arena during the Practice Round must wear safety goggles
which will be available on the day of the competition.
• If the Minidrone crashes into the net during a live round run, the entry for that run will
be disqualified.

F. Participation Requirements
It is mandatory for teams to be present on the day of the in-person round with the following:
• MATLAB installation:
A system with the latest release of MATLAB used during the simulation round installed.
For example, if the simulation round of the competition was launched when R2020b was the
latest release, the teams are expected to use R2020b for Round 2 of the competition
(virtual/in-person) even if R2021a may be released by that time.
• Hardware Support Package installation:
Teams should install ‘Simulink Support Package for Parrot Minidrones’. The procedure for
installation of the support package can be found below:
https://www.mathworks.com/help/supportpkg/parrot/ug/install-support-for-parrot-
minidrone.html
• Competition Model:
The submitted simulation model with changes, if necessary.

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G. Reference Material
• Recommended Tutorials:
o MATLAB Onramp:
https://matlabacademy.mathworks.com/
o Simulink Onramp:
https://www.mathworks.com/learn/tutorials/simulink-onramp.html
o Stateflow Onramp:
https://www.mathworks.com/learn/tutorials/stateflow-onramp.html
o Image Processing Onramp:
https://www.mathworks.com/learn/tutorials/image-processing-onramp.html
o MathWorks Minidrone Competition Video Series
https://www.mathworks.com/videos/series/mathworks-minidrone-competition.html

• Additional Video Tutorials:

o Tech Talk on Drone Simulation and Control:
https://www.mathworks.com/videos/series/drone-simulation-and-control.html
o Programming Drones using Simulink:
https://www.mathworks.com/videos/programming-drones-with-simulink-
1513024653640.html
o Tutorials on Computer Vision and Code Generation:
https://www.mathworks.com/academia/student-competitions/tutorials-videos.html
o Tech Talk on State Machines:
https://www.mathworks.com/videos/tech-talks/state-machines.html
o Tutorials on Stateflow:
https://www.mathworks.com/videos/series/stateflow-tutorials-94460.html

• Documentation Links:
o Simulink Support Package for Parrot Minidrones:
https://www.mathworks.com/hardware-support/parrot-minidrones.html
https://www.mathworks.com/help/supportpkg/parrot/index.html
o Aerospace Blockset:
https://www.mathworks.com/products/aeroblks.html
o Simulink 3D Animation:
https://www.mathworks.com/products/3d-animation.html
o Stateflow:
https://www.mathworks.com/products/stateflow.html
o Color Thresholder App:
https://www.mathworks.com/help/images/ref/colorthresholder-app.html

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