Hi Guys,
Appreciate the initiative of the Formula Pi series and I'm highly motivated to start programming for it.
I've read almost every article on this website, however, the Getting Started guide appears to be for those with a fair amount of knowledge about the series and a lot of it is outdated (for last season).
I have a couple of Raspberry Pi, was planning to buy my own YetiBorg in the near future and have years of programming experience. Preferably, i want to start programming immediately, with access to a simulator that i can test my code on. I am new to autonomy and would prefer to have the ability to 'test' my skills in this arena before committing to entering the competition arena.
I'm still left wondering how to get going on this project. What class of car should i be looking at programming for, what robot to buy (for my own testing), and where are the resources for this competition located?
It seems like such a simple thing, but i am having some difficulties understanding what is required from me and where to get the resources that i think i need, so that i can start laying down some code and becoming a part of this great idea.
Any help is greatly welcomed.
Kind regards,
Shane
Hi Shane,
The robot we are using in the Formula Pi series is MonsterBorg. We will continue running MonsterBorgs in future series of Formula Pi as well. Ideally this would be the best robot to test and experiment with as it will drive the same as the robots run on the track.
Access to the full code is provided as part of the entry. This includes the race code, the simulation, and previous winning entries. Along with access we also provide more detailed instructions on what to do and how to get started, We also provide assistance via this forum or email to teams who need a helping hand getting started :)
We have a simplified MonsterBorg: Self Drive script which is based on the same idea as the full Formula Pi race code. This is a smaller set of code which is easier to get started with. This could be a good starting point for looking at autonomous robot code.
Thank you Arron.
Are you using Python 2.7 or 3?
Does registration give us lifetime membership to the code repository? If not and considering my circumstances, when would you suggest is a good time to register?
The code is written for Python 2, but we have had teams who have entered Python 3 code instead :)
Code access is permanent allowing you to get any version we have made available in the past and in the future. We also upload the winning entry each season which you will also have access to.
Hi sorry to jump on this post, but does answer most my questions, I don't have much if any knowledge of phyton but am wanting to get into this as a way of learning , happy to pay the registration fee but not to worried about competing until more familiar with the code so am interested in the simulator so I can see how my code effects performance etc . So if I register am I right in thinking I'll get the basic code and a simulation mode to test it ? It's not going to be a case of adjust my code and you'll stick it on the monsterborg and it's likely to fail on the night ..
That is correct, once registered you will get access to both the standard code and the simulator which can be used to test with.
The simulation is good for more testing, but it is not 100% perfect. This means code might run slightly differently on the real MonsterBorgs, but its behaviour should be fairly similar :)
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