Creating Arena Tracks | MathWorks Minidrone Competition

Hello, everyone. In this video, which is meant for the MathWorks Minidrone Competition, we will see how we can create various track environments to test the performance of the algorithms that you might have developed for the competition. We will understand how you can use the competition track builder to create various tracks of various patterns and colors.

But why is this important? Because for round 1 of the MathWorks Minidrone Competition, the submissions will be tested on unknown tracks. And to access the track, we will first have to open the project. And to access this track builder, you will have to click on Open Track Builder, which is present in Project Shortcuts of the Minidrone Competition project.

Let's click on Open Track Builder. I will see the app opening up. This app consists of various sections, and has some buttons. Let's try and understand this app.

Let us say you want to create your own track. To do so, you can go to this blank canvas and click on a point. As you click on the point, you will see a corresponding point appear in the table on the left. Keep clicking to get the desired track that you want to create. And to reflect it onto your virtual world, click on the Update Virtual World button. Also note that the app itself takes care of all the details with respect to track [? work ?] and the location of the landing [? marker. ?] And you see here that the track that you have created is reflected into your virtual world.

Alongside that, you can also change the values of the track waypoints from the table itself. Please make sure that the values are within the x and y range, and for our case, the arena is 4 by 4. So ensure that the values are between 0 to 4 to adhere to arena dimensions.

Now, let's say you would want to save this track to use it at a later time. To do so, you can click on Save Waypoints. It saves these waypoints in a CSV file. Let's say we just change a couple of things in the track, and now we realize that we want to get our old track back. We can just click on Load Waypoints and load the CSV file. And then if you would want to reflect the same thing onto your actual environment, you can click on the Update Virtual World button. And let's say if you would want to start the track from a clear slate, you can just use the Clear button and then create the track that you would want.

Now, another point to note-- it's also that the drone will start at the start of the track. However, the nose of the drone will point to this direction. Now, in the Rules and Guidelines document, it is mentioned that the nose of the drone may not always be in the direction of the first line segment. So the algorithm that you have to design should take care of these details.

The simulations for round 1 would always be tested on a red-colored track. However, the color of the track can be adjusted according to the requirement. This will especially help us for competitions that have an in-person round, but the color of the track may not necessarily be red. We can just get the color details that best match the real-world scenario and add the corresponding hex color to the track.

For any more information, please go to the documentation page, which is linked in the description. Also, there are more videos about the MathWorks Minidrone Competition, so please check them out, too. And if you have any further questions, please feel free to reach out to us at minidronecompeti tion@mathworks.com. Thank you.