Order Generation and Trial Configuration in ARIAC 2025

[Juliaj]

Need some help to understand the relationship between trial configuration and order generation:

1. Trial Configuration vs. Order Generation: The trial configuration file specifies parameters like NUM_KITS, NUM_MODULES, and HIGH_PRIORITY_ORDERS with specific announcement times. Are these configurations used by the competition system to automatically generate and announce orders during the trial, or do participating teams need to construct their own order generation logic based on these parameters?

2. High Priority Order Announcements: For HIGH_PRIORITY_ORDERS specified in the trial configuration, I see that each order has a START_TIME (announcement time) and an ID. Are these orders automatically announced by the competition system at the specified times, or do teams need to implement their own announcement mechanism?

If teams are responsible for constructing scenarios based on trial configuration, are there any specific guidelines ? Thanks a bunch!

[jaybrecht]

Good questions! I understand this can be confusing initially. Let me clarify:

1. Trial Configuration vs. Order Generation: When a run is started with a given trial config YAML, the number of kits and modules will be automatically published by the competition system to the /competition_status topic. The num_kits and num_modules fields in the CompetitionStatus message will match the values specified in the YAML file.

   The anticipated workflow for teams is:

   • Connect to the robots and sensors
   • Start the competition
   • Monitor the /competition_status topic to determine how many kits and modules are required for that run
   • Plan and execute accordingly

Note: num_kits and num_modules are only populated after the competition is started. These values will be zero while in the PREPARING or READY state.

2. High Priority Order Announcements: High priority orders are automatically announced by the system to the /high_priority_orders topic using the HighPriorityOrder message, which includes the order ID. The system will publish to this topic at ANNOUNCEMENT_TIME seconds after the competition is started (in simulation time).

Note: High priority orders are not included in the num_kits count in the CompetitionStatus message, but they are considered during scoring as desired kits.

Regarding Trial Configuration Guidelines: During the finals, NIST will run each team's system with ten trials designed to test different agility metrics. Those specific trials will remain unknown to teams until after the competition concludes. However, teams are strongly encouraged to create their own trial configurations during development for testing purposes.

Hope this clarifies things! Let me know if you have any other questions.

[Juliaj]

Thank you for the detailed explanation, it really helps. I see in the demo code (dummy_inspection.py) there's a line to start_cell_feed. Can teams decide what cells to put on the conveyor belt?

    environment.get_logger().info("Starting cell feed with Li-Ion cells")
    await environment.inspection_conveyor.start_cell_feed(CellTypes.LI_ION)

It appears that there was a kick-off meeting for this competition. By any chance, the meeting was recorded ? Thanks again!

[anthonydowns]

Hi Juliaj I shared the Google Drive folder with the Launch Telecon with you.

[Juliaj]

Thanks, Anthony. The presentation explained pretty well about my CellTypes question above.

[dan9thsense]

Do the orders specify what type of cell is being ordered? The message only specifies the number of kits and modules not the type.

[jaybrecht]

All regular orders both kit and modules use the Li-Ion cells. The NiMh cells are only used for high priority orders.