SR2017 Arena Documentation¶

Pre-competition Preparation¶

There are two arenas in SR2017.

Libkoki Markers¶

The arena marker requirements are identical to SR2016. The arena markers from SR2016 will be reused for SR2017. As a note for future purchases, it would be useful if the arena markers had a v-notch in the centre of their bottom edge to aid with alignment during arena construction.

Requirements (all ranges inclusive):

Type	Size	Arena A	Arena B	Notes
Arena	250mm	100-127	150-177	We have all of the markers used in SR2016, but some are quite scuffed. We got two whole sets printed in SR2016, so will use the spare set as the primary markers in SR2017 with the SR2016 set as spares.
Robot	100mm	128-131	178-181	We have badges from SR2016, so don't need new markers
Token A	200mm	132-135	182-185
Token B	200mm	136-139	186-189
Token C	200mm	140	190

The Arena markers have been packaged up into 'A primary', 'B primary', 'A spare' and 'B spare' packs ready for deployment on the set-up day.

The token markers for arena A and B can be found in game-markers.git (A-TOKEN* and B-TOKEN*). These have been combined into a single PDF in arena.git using the command pdfjoin -o sr2017_token_240x240.pdf /path/to/game-markers.git/SR2017/comp/*TOKEN*. This PDF contains a single sides-worth of markers, meaning that 12 copies are required to allow us to construct both a primary and spare set of tokens for each arena. The markers are to be ordered from Stormpress on 270gsm synthetic media (as specified in the README.txt file in arena.git).

Before requesting a quote from Stormpress, I got someone else to sanity check the PDFs.

Arena labels¶

Each arena has 'A' and 'B' labels applied to the outside of the walls. We need 16 of each label (4 per wall). All of the 'A' and 'B' labels from SR2016 are suitable for use in SR2017 and have been packaged up ready for deployment on the set-up day.

Game props¶

The SR2017 game has 9 'token' props per arena. These tokens consist of cardboard boxes with libkoki markers attached to each face. All markers on a single token are the same, but each token has a different marker number. There are 4 tokens with marker numbers in the 'A' range, 4 tokens with marker numbers in the 'B' range and a single token with a 'C' marker. Each arena has two full sets of tokens, a primary and a spare set.

The rules specify the size of each token as a cube with a side length of 245±10mm. This size was chosen to match the nominal dimensions of a double wall 9 inch cardboard box.

4 packs of 10 of UKPackaging ref 15759 are to be ordered (36 boxes required).

The tokens are not associated with corners/robots in any way this year, so their colouring should not imply any association. However, the tokens needs to be easily identifiable as 'A', 'B' and 'C' for linesmen and spectators. For this reason the tokens will be red (A tokens, Apple), yellow (non-fluorescent) (B tokens, Banana) and white/brown combo (C tokens, Coconut). Each token will take 3.6m of 48mm wide tape to cover all 12 edges.

There are 16 A and 16 B tokens, requiring ~58m of red and ~58m of yellow tape respectively. There are 4 C tokens, requiring ~7.5m of white tape and ~7.5m of brown tape. All tape from Gaffertape.com Industrial Grade/Cloth Tape

Carpet¶

For the last few years we have used 'budget cord carpet' either in blue or red (depending on availability) from More For Your Floor. Previously we have ordered 2x 18x4m lengths and 1x 9x4m length, however we cut the 18m lengths in half. Since they charge per square metre, we can just order 5x 9x4m lengths for the same price and save our time cutting it up.

Arena walls¶

The arena walls are 300mm tall made out of 9mm thick waterproof MDF in 1.144m sections. There are 7 sections per side of the arena, giving an internal size of 7.999m (7x1.144 - 0.009). Each section has two feet that stick out on the outside of the arena. These feet have water-filled 5l plastic jerry cans placed on them for ballast.

The wall sections are held together with 3.5x25mm screws (2 screws per section for a total of 56 screws).

We already own all of the wall sections, all of the screws and all of the jerry cans from previous years.

Network requirements¶

There is a private LAN, the 'arena network', that connects all of the computers around the arenas, the shepherding area and the score entry area. This LAN requires points at:

Each corner of each arena (8 off) requires two ethernet points that can reach up to 2m in the air from the floor.
The shepherd area requires two ethernet points
The score entry area requires two ethernet points (provide 4)
The downstairs 'outside' display requires one ethernet point
The upstairs 'outside' display requires one ethernet point. This will be connected to the Newbury network, it will only have internet access and not access to the rest of the arena network.

This LAN connects to the Newbury network to get internet access. The connection to the Newbury network is via a NAT router. The NAT router also needs to provide DHCP leases with fixed hostnames (and provide DNS lookup of these hostnames) for the following MAC addresses:

b8:27:eb:89:e9:e0 pi-outside-0
b8:27:eb:51:84:16 pi-shepherding-1
b8:27:eb:e9:ec:98 pi-outside-2
b8:27:eb:2e:84:e4 pi-arena-A0
b8:27:eb:ec:0e:80 pi-arena-A1
b8:27:eb:e4:7a:ef pi-arena-A2
b8:27:eb:ed:f2:77 pi-arena-A3
b8:27:eb:be:ce:73 pi-arena-B0
b8:27:eb:b9:2b:29 pi-arena-B1
b8:27:eb:3c:0b:c5 pi-arena-B2
b8:27:eb:eb:9a:17 pi-arena-B3
b8:27:eb:69:f2:04 pi-staging-11
[unknown] compbox-2017

The NAT router is a GLi GL-AR300M with the following changes made to the factory default configuration:

Hostname set to littleblackrouter
SSID set to sr-arena-net
WPA2 password changed (password written on the device)
Web interface/root password changed (password written on the device)
Static leases added for the above listed MAC address/hostnames

Power requirements¶

Power is required in the following locations:

Each arena corner (8 off): 4 (from RTSS) + 4 (ITR 4-way plugged into 1 of RTSS) sockets
Shepherding area: 7 sockets
Score entry area: 10 sockets
Downstairs 'outside' display: 4 sockets
Upstairs 'outside' display: 4 sockets

Display requirements¶

Each arena corner (8 off) requires one 24" screen on a unicol stand
The shepherding area requires two 24" screens on desk stands
The 'outside' displays require two 32" screens on unicol stands (one for downstairs and one for upstairs)

Table and chair requirements¶

The staging area requires 9 'small' (4ft x 2ft approx) or 6 'large' (6/8ft x 2ft approx) trestle tables.
The shepherding area requires 2 'small' or 1 'large' trestle tables and 4 chairs.
The score entry area requires 4 'small' or 3 'large' trestle tables and 6 chairs.

We need to borrow these off of Newbury (along with the tables and chairs for the pits - see Pit Manager docs).

Crowd barrier requirements¶

To surround the two arenas and the staging are we require 50x 2m crowd barriers. Newbury have these already and we can borrow them.

Staging area requirements¶

As well as the tables noted in the table and chair requirements section, the staging area requires four 48mm x 25m rolls of fluorescent gaffer tape (one each of yellow, green, orange and pink) and one 50mm x 50m roll of white gaffer. It also requires some printed 'Arena A' and 'Arena B' signs to stick on the desks to clearly identify the staging bays for each arena.

Tape order¶

Order the following:

Red cloth gaffer tape - 3x 48mm x 25m rolls
Yellow cloth gaffer tape - 3x 48mm x 25m rolls
White cloth gaffer tape - 1x 48mm x 25m rolls
Brown cloth gaffer tape - 1x 48mm x 25m rolls
Grey cloth gaffer tape - 2x 48mm x 25m rolls
Red cloth gaffer tape - 1x 24mm x 25m rolls
Yellow cloth gaffer tape - 1x 24mm x 25m rolls
White cloth gaffer tape - 1x 24mm x 25m rolls
NEC approved low-tac double sided-tape - 3x 38mm x 50m rolls
Insulating tape (any colour)
White gaffer tape - 2x 50mm x 50m roll
Black gaffer tape - 4x 50mm x 50m roll
Fluorescent gaffer tape - 8x 48mm x 25m rolls (two each of yellow, green, orange and pink)

(We already have ~6 rolls of double-sided finger lift tape, ~4 rolls of NEC double-sided tape, ~1 roll of each colour of fluorescent tape and ~1 roll of white gaffer tape.)

Set-up Day Plans¶

There are five top-level tasks that can (and should) be carried out in parallel:

Arena construction [4 people]
Staging/shepherding area construction [1 person]
Display assembly [2 people]
Scoring/ops area construction [1 person]
Arenanet installation [1 person]
Game prop construction [4 people]

Arena Construction¶

Each arena is an 8x8m carpeted area surrounded by 300mm high MDF walls. For further details about the design see the rules. The following is a rough plan for arena construction.

Four people are required for arena construction

Materials¶

Arena floor plan (arena-position.pdf from comp-floorplans.git)
Arena layout (arena-layout.pdf from comp-floorplans.git)
Budget cord carpet - 5x 9x4m roll
NEC approved low-tac double sided-tape - 5x 38mm x 50m rolls
Insulating tape (for marking out - so the colour is unimportant)
Arena walls
3.5x25mm wood screws
50x 5-litre HDPE jerrycans
A water supply
Double-sided finger-lift tape - 1x 12mm x 50m roll
White gaffer tape - 2x 50mm x 50m roll
Black gaffer tape - 2x 50mm x 50m roll
Arena markers 'A primary' and 'B primary' packs
Arena label 'A' and 'B' packs
Fluorescent gaffer tape - 1x 48mm x 25m rolls one each of yellow, green, orange and pink
Red cloth gaffer tape - 1x 24mm x 25m rolls
Yellow cloth gaffer tape - 1x 24mm x 25m rolls
White cloth gaffer tape - 1x 24mm x 25m rolls
50x 2m metal crowd-control barriers
8x Fully assembled corner displays (see Display Assembly section)

Tools¶

1x scissors
2x stanley knife
1x 30m tape measure
1x 2m folding ruler
1x 30m chalk line
1x PZ2 screwdriver
2x battery drills w. PZ2 screwdriver bits

Procedure¶

Mark out where the carpet will be laid on the venue floor with insulation tape and chalk line. [15 mins]
Lay the carpet by applying strips of NEC double sided tape to the floor and roll the carpet out onto it in sections. (Lay one strip of tape over the joint. Cut the backing tape ~2m from each end. Remove the middle section of backing tape and lay carpet. Once both sides of the joint are laid, remove the end section backing tape.) [1.5 hour]
Tape down the boundary of the carpet with black gaffer tape. [15 mins]
The following steps can be carried out in parallel. Two people work on each step.
1. Mark out where the arena walls will be laid on the carpet with insulating tape and chalk line. [15 mins]
2. Fill the jerrycans with water. [15 mins]
Place the arena walls onto the carpet. The wall sections are number and must be placed in the correct order so that the screw holes line up. [30 mins]
Screw the wall sections together. [30 mins]
Place the jerrycans on the wall feet. [15 mins]
Get RTSS to begin installing the power cabling. occurs 3h 30m from the start of the procedure
Get Arenanet installer to begin the network cabling.
Mark out where the arena wall markers are to be stuck with insulating tape on the carpet next to the wall face. [15 mins]
Apply the markers to the walls using a cross of double-sided tape and surround the edges with white gaffer tape. Take care to ensure the ordering and arena assignment (A/B) is correct. [30 mins]
Mark out the corners with the fluorescent gaffer tape and write the corner number on the carpet with the tape. [30 mins]
The following steps can be carried out in parallel. Two people work on each step.
1. Apply spikes (small bits of tape on the floor) for the game props according to the arena floor plan, to allow them to be quickly repositioned at the end of a match, and write the token letters on the carpet with the tape. [30 mins]
2. Apply the A/B markers to the outside of the arena walls. [15 mins]
Wait for RTSS to complete power cabling.
Wait for Arenanet installer to complete network cabling.
Install assembled displays. [15 mins].
Place the crowd-control barrier around the arenas. [15 mins]

Total construction time: 6 hours

Staging/Shepherding Area Construction¶

One person is required for staging/shepherding area construction

Materials¶

Staging/shepherding area floor plan (arena-position.pdf from comp-floorplans.git)
~11x small or ~7x large trestle tables
4x chairs
Fluorescent gaffer tape - 1x 48mm x 25m rolls one each of yellow, green, orange and pink
1x roll of 50mm x 50m white gaffer tape
Printed 'arena A' and 'arena B' signs
2x fully assembled 'staging/shepherding' displays (see Display Assembly section)

Tools¶

None required

Procedure¶

Wait until RTSS have installed the power to the staging/shepherding area
Wait until Arenanet installer has installed the network cabling/switch.
Place the tables and chairs according to the floor plan. [10 mins]
Place the two assembled displays onto the shepherding desk and plug into power and ethernet. [5 mins]
Using the coloured gaffer tape, mark out the staging bays. [20 mins]
Using the white gaffer tape, mark out one-way arrows on the floor. [20 mins]
Stick the signs onto the staging tables. [5 mins]

Total construction time: 1 hour.

Scoring/ops Area Construction¶

One person is required for Scoring/ops Area Construction

Materials¶

Scoring/ops area floor plan (arena-position.pdf from comp-floorplans.git)
~4x small or ~3x large trestle tables
6x chairs
3x 4-way extension leads
1x score entry laptop

Tools¶

None required.

Procedure¶

Wait until RTSS have installed the power to the score entry area.
Wait until the Arenanet installer has installed the network cabling/switch.
Place the tables and chairs roughly in the right area (the people using them can move them around). [5 mins]
Plug the 4-way extension leads into the power. [5 mins]
Plug the score entry laptop into the power and ethernet switch. [5 mins]

Total construction time: 15 mins.

Arenanet Installation¶

One person is required for Arenanet Installation

Materials¶

Arenanet floor plan (arenanet.pdf from comp-floorplans.git)
7x 8-port ethernet switches + PSUs
1x competition software router + PSU
14x 2m ethernet cables
4x 5m ethernet cables
11x 10m ethernet cables
1x 15m ethernet cable
2x 20m ethernet cables
2x 30m ethernet cables
1x cardboard box to place router in
Some gaffer tape

Tools¶

None required.

Procedure¶

Run all long-distance network cables according to the floorplan [30 mins]:
1. 20m from third-party network point to Sound/LX desk, if it is provided next to the venue network point.
2. 20m from Sound/LX desk to Scoring/Ops desk.
3. 30m from Scoring/Ops desk to Shepherding desk.
4. 30m from Shepherding desk to downstairs outside display location.
5. 10m from Scoring/Ops desk to closest Arena B corner.
Place switches according to the floorplan (except for the four arena switches), plug them into power if available and connect the long-distance network cables. [30 mins]
Place the router somewhere in the Sound/LX desk area, plug the 'WAN' port into the cable from the third-party network point, the 'LAN' port into the cable to the Sound/LX switch with a 2m cable and into the power. [5 mins]
Place the router inside the cardboard box and tape it shut. This is to prevent it from damage. [5 mins]
Install all of the 2m and 5m cables. [20 mins]
When requested by the arena construction team, install the four arena switches and all of the arena network cabling. [1 hour]
Plug any unpowered switches into power.

Total construction time: 2 hours 30 mins.

Display Assembly¶

Two people are required for screen assembly

Materials¶

Outside display floor plan (outside-display-floor-0.pdf and outside-display-floor-2.pdf from comp-floorplans.git)
10x unicol stands
10x 24" screens with HDMI inputs (we own 6)
2x 32" screens with HDMI inputs
8x vesa pole mounts
2x unicol mounts for 32" screens
12x 4-way extension leads (UK plug and UK sockets)
12x raspberry pis
12x raspberry pi PSUs
12x HDMI leads
A piece of cardboard to make sled for raspberry pis
1x roll of 50mm x 50m black gaffer tape
Roll of address labels
Pen

Tools¶

1x PZ2 screwdriver
Set of metric hex keys
Scissors or knife

Procedure¶

It is very important that the correct raspberry pis are attached to the correct type of screen. The name of each raspberry pi will be indicated, but may not be marked on the raspberry pi itself. If it is not marked on the raspberry pi itself, use some address labels to mark them appropriately.
Assemble 8 of the unicol stands with a single pole and 2 with both poles. [30 mins]
Attach the pole mounts to the back of 8 of the 24" screens. [30 mins]
Attach the 8 24" screens to the 8 single-pole unicol stands. [30 mins]
Attach the 2 unicol mounts for the 32" screens to the 2 dual-pole unicol stands. [10 mins]
Attach the 2 32" screens to the 2 dual-pole unicol stands. [10 mins]
Attach the desk stands to the remaining 2 24" screens. [10 mins]
On the back of all 12 screens attach a 4-way extension lead with gaffer tape. [30 mins]
On the back of all 12 screens attach a raspberry pi with a piece of cardboard, as an insulating sled, and with gaffer tape. Observe the correct mapping and do not cover the label applied in step 1: [30 mins]
- Raspberry pis marked with 'arena-A' or 'arena-B' go onto the 8 24" screens on single-pole unicol stands
- Raspberry pis marked with 'outside-0' or 'outside-2' go onto the 2 32" screens
- Raspberry pis marked with 'shepherding' or 'staging' go onto the 2 24" desk mount screens
Plug all of the raspberry pis into their corresponding display with HDMI leads. [10 mins]
Plug all of the raspberry pis into the 4-way extension lead with their PSUs. [10 mins]
Plug each screen into its 4-way extension lead with the appropriate lead (supplied with the screen). [10 mins]
Work with Competition Software Coordinator to test that each screen functions as expected. Note that the screen must be powered up (and the HDMI cable connected to the raspberry pi) before powering up the raspberry pi, otherwise it may not detect the screen. [30 mins]
Place and plug in (both power and network) the two 'outside' displays (the ones not in the arena or staging area). Refer to the floor plans for the positions. [15 mins]

Total assembly time: 4 hours 15 mins.

SR2017 Game (Easy as ABC) Prop Construction¶

The SR2016 game requires tokens to be constructed. These tokens consist of cardboard box cubes with 250mm side-length covered with libkoki markers. To assist human spectators, coloured gaffer tape is applied to the faces of the cube.

Four people are required for token construction

Materials¶

Cardboard boxes - 36x 9"x9"x9" double-wall boxes (external dimensions approx. 245mm x 254mm x 254mm)
Token libkoki markers
Double-sided finger-lift tape - 4x 12mm x 50m rolls
Red cloth gaffer tape - 3x 48mm x 25m rolls
Yellow cloth gaffer tape - 3x 48mm x 25m rolls
White cloth gaffer tape - 1x 48mm x 25m rolls
Brown cloth gaffer tape - 1x 48mm x 25m rolls
Grey cloth gaffer tape - 2x 48mm x 25m rolls

Tools¶

Scissors

Procedure¶

There are two sets of tokens to be built. Those for arena A and those for arena B. To make things simple the tokens will be constructed in two phases: arena A tokens followed by arena B tokens. Each token has six of the same marker number and the orientation of the markers is irrelevant.

Fold the flat-packed box into a cube. [30 sec]
Use the grey tape to seal the top and bottom flaps along the seam. [30 sec]
Obtain a complete set of markers (all marker numbers the same). [30 sec]
Apply a cross of double-sided tape to a side of the box.
Stick a marker onto the box, taking care to align it in the centre of the face.
Repeat the above two steps until all of the markers have been stuck on the box. [6 mins]
Get a second person to verify that all of the markers on the box have the same number (as noted in the small grey text in the bottom left of each marker). [1 min]
Use the coloured tape (as specified below) to cover all 12 edges of the box and seal the marker edges. Take care to ensure that it is outside of the grey square surrounding each marker. [6 mins]
- Use red tape for 'A' tokens
- Use yellow tape for 'B' tokens
- Use white/brown tape for 'C' tokens (use white on some edges and brown on others - make it look coconut-y)
Verify the token with the verification program again. [1 min]
Repeat.

Setup time: 30 mins. Construction time per token: ~16mins. Total construction time (with four people): ~3 hours.

Final Day Arena Changeover¶

On the final day of the competition we change to a single arena (arena A) for quarter finals, semi finals and final. There is very little time to perform this changeover between the final heat and the first quarter final.

Six people are required for arena changeover (2 guards, 4 workers)

Tools¶

2x battery drills w. PZ2 screwdriver bits

Procedure¶

Instruct the two workers to stop anyone other than the four workers from entering the changeover area.
The following two tasks happen in parallel (two people per task):
1. Remove the screws joining the arena wall sections along the side of arena B next to arena A and 3 sections down each side. Take care to only remove the screws on one side of the joint (ask Rich which side). [2 mins]
2. Remove the jerry cans from the feet of the walls being unscrewed and unplug the power and network cables from the two displays in the corners of arena B next to arena A. [2 mins]
Move all of the unscrewed wall sections to the other side of arena B. [1 min]
The following two tasks happen in parallel:
1. Pull back the unused network and power cabling to the other side of arena B, taking care to leave the network and power cabling running to arena A. [1 min]
2. Wheel the unplugged corner displays to the other side of arena B. [1 min]
Reposition the crowd barrier along the exposed edge of arena A and partially along the exposed staging area. [2 min].

Total procedure time: 6 mins

Attribution

This page is based on work done by Fiona Gillan, Richard Barlow, Rob Gilton and Thomas Leese, originally published at https://bitbucket.org/richardbarlow/sr-arena-manager/wiki/SR2017, which was under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, PO Box 1866, Mountain View, CA 94042, USA.