Micromouse

Moonlight Special was a pioneer in the history of Micromouse and autonomous mobile robots as the first micromouse to demonstrate maze-learning capability. It was described in IEEE Spectrum "Amazing Micro-Mouse Maze Contest" coverage as "the smartest micromouse tested during the contest's four time trials".

Rules

The maze is made up of a 16×16 grid of cells, each 18 centimetres (7.1 in) square with walls 5 centimetres (2.0 in) high and 1.2 centimetres (0.47 in) thick. The walls are white with red tops, and the floor is black. Mice start at a dead end in one corner, and the goal area is a rectangular room, typically 2×2, in the center of the maze.

The mice are completely autonomous robots that must find their way from a predetermined starting position to the central area of the maze unaided. The mouse needs to keep track of where it is, discover walls as it explores, map out the maze and detect when it has reached the goal. Having reached the goal, the mouse will typically perform additional searches of the maze until it has found an optimal route from the start to the finish. Once the optimal route has been found, the mouse will traverse that route in the shortest achievable time. Up to five runs are permitted per entrant, and sessions are typically limited to 7 or 10 minutes.

The mouse cannot exceed 25 centimetres (9.8 in) in length or width, but there are no height restrictions. Flying, jumping, climbing, and combustion or rocket propulsion are not allowed. Mice can be disqualified for causing damage to the maze. Minor repairs such as cleaning the wheels are permitted while the mouse is at rest, but interventions during a run are not allowed except if the mouse has malfunctioned or crashed, and its computer code and memory about the maze cannot be altered once it is revealed.

Half-Size Micromouse

A version of Micromouse called the Half-Size Micromouse was introduced at the 30th All Japan Micromouse Competition in 2009. Instead of a 16×16 maze, the Half-Size competition uses up to a 32×32 maze, but cell and wall dimensions have been reduced by half, providing a new challenge.