The Fastest Maze-Solving Competition On Earth

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  • Опубліковано 28 бер 2024
  • Welcome to Micromouse, the fastest maze-solving competition on Earth. Join Onshape’s community of over 3 million CAD users by creating a free account here: Onshape.pro/Veritasium.
    ▀▀▀
    A huge thank you to Peter Harrison for all of his help introducing us to the world of Micromouse - check out ukmars.org & micromouseonline.com.
    Thank you to David Otten, APEC, and the All-Japan Micromouse Competition for having us.
    Thank you to Juing-Hei ( / @suhu9379 ) & Derek Hall ( / @micromouse ) for usage of their micromouse videos.
    Thank you to John McBride, Yusaku Kanagawa, and Katie Barnshaw for their help with Japanese translations.
    ▀▀▀
    References:
    Claude Shannon Demonstrates Machine Learning, AT&T Tech Channel Archive - ve42.co/ClaudeShannon
    Mighty mouse, MIT News Magazine - ve42.co/MightyMouse
    History, Micromouse Online Blog - ve42.co/MMHistory
    Christiansen, D. (1977). Spectral lines: Announcing the Amazing Micro-Mouse Maze Contest. IEEE Spectrum, vol. 14, no. 5, pp. 27-27 - ve42.co/Christiansen1977
    Allan, R. (1979). Microprocessors: The amazing micromice: See how they won: Probing the innards of the smartest and fastest entries in the Amazing Micro-Mouse Maze Contest. IEEE Spectrum, vol. 16, no. 9, pp. 62-65, - ve42.co/Allan1979
    1977-79 - “MOONLIGHT SPECIAL” Battelle Inst. (American), CyberNetic Zoo - ve42.co/MoonlightSpecial
    Christiansen, D. (2014). The Amazing MicroMouse Roars On. Spectral Lines - ve42.co/Christiansen2014
    1986 - MicroMouse history, competition & how it got started in the USA, via UA-cam - ve42.co/MMArchiveYT
    The first World Micromouse Contest in Tsubuka, Japan, August 1985 [1/2] by TKsTclip via UA-cam - ve42.co/MMTsukubaYT
    IEEE. (2018). Micromouse Competition Rules - ve42.co/IEEERules
    Tondra, D. (2004). The Inception of Chedda: A detailed design and analysis of micromouse. University of Nevada - ve42.co/Tondra2004
    Braunl, T. (1999). Research relevance of mobile robot competitions. IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine, vol. 6, no. 4, pp. 32-37 - ve42.co/Braunl1999
    All Japan Micromouse 2017 by Peter Harrison, Micromouse Online - ve42.co/RedComet
    Winning record of the national competition micromouse (half size) competition. mm3sakusya @ wiki (Google translated from Japanese) - ve42.co/JapanFinishTimes
    The Fosbury Flop-A Game-Changing Technique, Smithsonian Magazine - ve42.co/FosburyFlop
    Gold medal winning heights in the Men's and Women's high jump at the Summer Olympics from 1896 to 2020, Statistica - ve42.co/HighJump
    Zhang, H., Wang, Y., Wang, Y., & Soon, P. L. (2016). Design and realization of two-wheel micro-mouse diagonal dashing. Journal of Intelligent & Fuzzy Systems, 31(4), 2299-2306. - ve42.co/Zhang2016
    Micromouse Turn List, Keri’s Lab - ve42.co/MMTurns
    Green Ye via UA-cam - ve42.co/Greenye
    Classic Micromouse, Excel 9a. Demonstrate fan suction, by TzongYong Khiew via UA-cam - ve42.co/MMFanYT
    Vacuum Micromouse by Eliot, HACKADAY - ve42.co/MMVacuum
    ▀▀▀
    Special thanks to our Patreon supporters:
    Emil Abu Milad, Tj Steyn, meg noah, Bernard McGee, KeyWestr, Amadeo Bee, TTST, Balkrishna Heroor, John H. Austin, Jr., john kiehl, Anton Ragin, Diffbot, Gnare, Dave Kircher, Burt Humburg, Blake Byers, Evgeny Skvortsov, Meekay, Bill Linder, Paul Peijzel, Josh Hibschman, Mac Malkawi, Juan Benet, Ubiquity Ventures, Richard Sundvall, Lee Redden, Stephen Wilcox, Marinus Kuivenhoven, Michael Krugman, Sam Lutfi.
    ▀▀▀
    Written by Tom Lum and Emily Zhang
    Edited by Trenton Oliver
    Animated by Ivy Tello
    Coordinated by Emily Zhang
    Filmed by Yusaku Kanagawa, Emily Zhang, and Derek Muller
    Additional video/photos supplied by Getty Images and Pond5
    Music from Epidemic Sound
    Thumbnail by Ren Hurley and Ignat Berbeci
    References by Katie Barnshaw
    Produced by Derek Muller, Petr Lebedev, and Emily Zhang

КОМЕНТАРІ • 7 тис.

  • @blenderguru
    @blenderguru 10 місяців тому +12596

    Sure the mice are cool, but can we talk about the animations at 8:40? So impressive! No idea how they were made, but it really helped understand the concepts. Hats off to the team behind them.

    • @NinjaCLAW
      @NinjaCLAW 10 місяців тому +331

      Ikr its soo cool... Alsoo hello there blender guru you taught me blender thanks for that XD

    • @just_is
      @just_is 10 місяців тому +7

      Yoo

    • @dutchboes
      @dutchboes 10 місяців тому +176

      Ay the doughnut man

    • @HopefullyNotYou
      @HopefullyNotYou 10 місяців тому +4

      AGREED

    • @quincypurcell1011
      @quincypurcell1011 10 місяців тому +42

      Hello donut man

  • @cupostuff9929
    @cupostuff9929 10 місяців тому +21380

    Those turns are unreal, it looks like the mouse is simply teleporting across across certain parts of the maze

    • @XtreeM_FaiL
      @XtreeM_FaiL 10 місяців тому +623

      That one micro mouse surely do that once it hits 88mph.

    • @myvalekcz6656
      @myvalekcz6656 10 місяців тому +207

      ​@Dont_Read_My_User_Photo ok

    • @nkronert
      @nkronert 10 місяців тому +213

      Pardon the pun, but it is a-mazing how advanced these tiny robots have become, both in speed and intelligence. 😮

    • @unocualqu1era
      @unocualqu1era 10 місяців тому +27

      @Dont_Read_My_User_Photo TL;DR

    • @biggestthreattoyourexistence
      @biggestthreattoyourexistence 10 місяців тому +22

      That's what you get with 2 independently controlled wheels.

  • @5MadMovieMakers
    @5MadMovieMakers 8 місяців тому +465

    The next innovation: Micro Mouse Tokyo Drift

  • @davidflores909
    @davidflores909 5 місяців тому +680

    Probably this might get lost in the sea of comments, but I just want to say that this video made me choose my first club at my university. We have an IEEE club, and it has a micromouse year-long project. I was so thrilled when I first heard about it. I am a CS major, but I've dabbled a little in electronics. I am exited about how it is going to go for me.

    • @aoyuki1409
      @aoyuki1409 3 місяці тому +29

      are you winning, son?

    • @SunnyN
      @SunnyN 3 місяці тому +17

      are you winning, son?

    • @davidflores909
      @davidflores909 3 місяці тому +42

      Lol it went better than I was expecting this first term, but I didn't win. I wasn't last either though. There are three more terms to go.
      Although, I kind of dislike the software we're using. Bad and glitchy interface for the EDA part. The coding software lacks modern features such as multi line editing, static analysis, code suggestions and snippets, and has a dated UI.
      For the EDA software I can only compare it to my experience using programming software since I don't know much about EDA software. Is it all so bad? The one we're using is Fusion 360. I'm honestly astonished it is paid software. Thankfully we're on a free student license though.

    • @ethan4237
      @ethan4237 3 місяці тому

      @@davidflores909sounds like you’ve found a passion project that could improve robotics and earn you a lot of money!

    • @SilverFlame819
      @SilverFlame819 3 місяці тому +4

      Good luck!!! Nerds FTW! 😁

  • @ARankin
    @ARankin 10 місяців тому +3985

    The section about the mouse choosing the longer but straighter path really struck home with me. Too often in map software, and even games with a GPS system, the "shorter" path will be taken, even though the longer path is actually faster when factoring in deceleration, waiting at stop signs, etc. It's really a fascinating area for optimization.

    • @victormiranda9163
      @victormiranda9163 10 місяців тому +121

      when it comes to people and autos in cities, the straightest path is usually better.
      displacing a block for a better street can improve, the issue is top speeds are limited.
      it is fun to optimize

    • @majermike
      @majermike 10 місяців тому +37

      oh yea thats good stuff i like to optimize while I am high on angel dust

    • @schwarz8614
      @schwarz8614 10 місяців тому +73

      Thats actually not true, modern gps factor in that too.

    • @mikefochtman7164
      @mikefochtman7164 10 місяців тому +22

      Totally agree. The 'trick' seems to be able to assign the correct speed/ acceleration times. Doing a 'flood fill' to find the route is one thing, but doing a second form of 'flood fill' where you label each position with an estimated time-to-goal sort of distance.

    • @mikefochtman7164
      @mikefochtman7164 10 місяців тому +30

      @@victormiranda9163 And we've all been there where we think, "I need to turn left at some point, which intersection would be the best place? At the light where there is a left-turn signal? Or maybe one block BEFORE the light where I won't be stopped by the light but maybe there will be a gap caused by the light where I can turn left even quicker?" Or do I just make three right turns? lol City driving, you quickly find yourself thinking about things like this and trying to remember what works.

  • @callmeandoru2627
    @callmeandoru2627 10 місяців тому +1222

    One thing I like about this engineering competition is that, since there aren't heavy financial incentives involved (like pretty much any other engineering project), people are given the chance to try whatever they want and be as innovative as they like.

    • @feha92
      @feha92 10 місяців тому +56

      Even with incentives, all they would need to be innovative is low costs for parts and work, and rules allowing multiple entries per participant (and no entry-fee)

    • @raymondqiu8202
      @raymondqiu8202 10 місяців тому +38

      Literally, if this competition doesn't show that capitalism doesn't produce innovation, i don't know what will

    • @MiTheMer
      @MiTheMer 10 місяців тому +72

      @@raymondqiu8202 You cannot argue that because A causes X, that B does not cause X as well...

    • @jursamaj
      @jursamaj 10 місяців тому +73

      @@raymondqiu8202 You don't understand the way capitalism does innovation. If there is big money riding on something, the capitalists will do quite well at figuring out how to get that money. It is only once they dominate a field, and risk becomes expensive, that they stop innovating.

    • @chrismathewsjr
      @chrismathewsjr 10 місяців тому +15

      @@jursamaj capitalism doesn't do innovation, people do. begging engineers to read one ounce of Marx

  • @txma.
    @txma. 8 місяців тому +1230

    Ive never once studied robotics but it seems to me that this sort of thing would be a great introductory course to the subject

    • @klenom112
      @klenom112 6 місяців тому +149

      Sorry bro, but this kind of thing is so far away from introductory, introductory robotics are like: open and closing a gate, or lifting up some wheight with a motor. Actually doing robots its on the midterm of robotics, and competitions like this are endgame things.( Sorry for the possible typing errors)

    • @anotherdayanotheranimation
      @anotherdayanotheranimation 6 місяців тому +123

      ​@@klenom112 I think he meant it in the way of being introduced to the potential of robotics during introductory courses. Show students the possibilities, let them imagine the what ifs, and then the basics begin.

    • @klenom112
      @klenom112 6 місяців тому +56

      @@anotherdayanotheranimation Excelent point man, didn't saw that way, it is a actually awesome way to introduce robotics.

    • @-Gnarlemagne
      @-Gnarlemagne 6 місяців тому +17

      Its actually really not that far out there to use this as introductory robotics, even in a practical sense! Before I went off to college, I participated in a highschool robotics competition that McGill University hosts, which does exactly this. All the equipment is standardized with a few customization options, and over the course of a couple days they introduce the different features and how to write code on the arduinos that drive the little mice, and then you have a sandbox day to try different things with different mazes before you submit your final version for the contest. They use very simple mazes, and you have very few options for sensors, but in my opinion it was the perfect level of challenge!

    • @jgon12
      @jgon12 6 місяців тому +4

      In my university it's a class they teach you to code and then at the end you build a micro mouse or a robot that does something like following a path then lifting a can or moving some servos to carry stuff. This class is on the camputer/electrical engineering idk if there is something similar on computer science since they only do coding and stuff while we do hardware and some coding.

  • @Homitu
    @Homitu 7 місяців тому +394

    Whoever does the animations to accompany the explanations for these videos deserves a raise! Those were top notch and absolutely vital to the effectiveness of this video!

  • @pcvsk8
    @pcvsk8 10 місяців тому +2284

    As an electronic engineer, this is one of the most epic electronic engineering vids I've seen. Thanks Veritasium

    • @tusharkuntawar6170
      @tusharkuntawar6170 10 місяців тому +6

      Same

    • @baconheadhair6938
      @baconheadhair6938 10 місяців тому

      Np i got u

    • @lavy9740
      @lavy9740 10 місяців тому +16

      So am I, I saw the length of this video and thought: "Eh not gonna sit and watch for 20 mins" but I got absolutely enthralled. Really considering making one!

    • @jaytravis2487
      @jaytravis2487 10 місяців тому +1

      IIT has a course called CS 102 you might enjoy

    • @MrBLAA
      @MrBLAA 10 місяців тому +2

      If _elevation height_ isn’t a “violation”… why not just launch a drone (aka: map~>process~>drive)💁‍♂️

  • @WilkinsonX
    @WilkinsonX 10 місяців тому +3356

    It’d be cool to see a maze with different elevations throughout.

    • @nfnworldpeace1992
      @nfnworldpeace1992 10 місяців тому +171

      or a 3d object which could have intersting shortcuts depending how the maze wraps around

    • @anmakesart
      @anmakesart 10 місяців тому +11

      That's exactly what I thought!!!

    • @macallan3933
      @macallan3933 10 місяців тому +89

      And opposite burms and different textures and bumpy sections

    • @faysmith508
      @faysmith508 10 місяців тому +166

      @@macallan3933 rally mouse

    • @unfa00
      @unfa00 10 місяців тому +110

      Non-euclidean mazes :D

  • @wolfywox
    @wolfywox 5 місяців тому +81

    Man, this is fascinating. Initially I thought this was a remote controlled competition, but after seeing how fast they were moving I knew that wasn't possible. It's really impressive what we can do with robotics these days, even on such a small scale!

  • @slopehoke1277
    @slopehoke1277 4 місяці тому +27

    14:16 I love the shocked reactions from the spectators.

  • @anjayv8347
    @anjayv8347 10 місяців тому +861

    As an electronics engineer this was one of my favorite projects that I have ever done. From the firmware, circuit design , algorithms and mechanical design every part of this robot is just pure absolute joy of engineering.

    • @Luctor
      @Luctor 10 місяців тому +12

      Do you mind giving me inputs? I am an EE student and I want to know what I need to know and any other things required to try make one

    • @ricardomilos857
      @ricardomilos857 10 місяців тому +3

      bro, are you bald?

    • @xogeneral1512
      @xogeneral1512 10 місяців тому +4

      as normal guy , i salute you electronics engineer. as a normal guy

    • @sebastianjost
      @sebastianjost 10 місяців тому +7

      I wonder how common extreme weight optimization is... Drilling holes into PCBs, using the lightest materials available, shaving them down to barely not break.
      Surely that could get you a few ms due to faster turning speeds.
      Also, how relevant are aerodynamics on this tiny scale?

    • @TheNapalmFTW
      @TheNapalmFTW 10 місяців тому

      Pin this

  • @SuperTux20
    @SuperTux20 10 місяців тому +1075

    I'd love to see a 3D micromouse maze with all sorts of walls and ceilings and loops to drive on, using vacuum fans to stick to the surfaces

    • @praveenmotamarri
      @praveenmotamarri 10 місяців тому +46

      or use a drone micromouse

    • @vaisakhkm783
      @vaisakhkm783 10 місяців тому +14

      @@praveenmotamarri drons, but as small balls....without any fans outside, and can roll on wall to maximize speed when turning

    • @UnconventionalOne
      @UnconventionalOne 10 місяців тому +7

      I came here to say this. I see that it's already been said. So i second it.

    • @whitneysmiltank
      @whitneysmiltank 10 місяців тому +6

      Imagine all the possible Fosbury flops

    • @zevlowenstein9572
      @zevlowenstein9572 10 місяців тому +1

      @@praveenmotamarri there are drone obstacle courses...

  • @abunk8691
    @abunk8691 2 місяці тому +12

    Gotta say my thanks as this video helped me create a first person maze game based on the maze circuit designs on the video for a university project and the panel/judge loved it with the addition of a horror theme through sounds, lighting, and objects in the distance. It was also interesting to learn about the micromouse competition while I was at it and I was able to replicate the diagonal movements the micromouse make on the mazes on my game.
    Thank you again.

  • @tonygoodwinjr9293
    @tonygoodwinjr9293 5 місяців тому +50

    It was neat watching the engineering evolve from just mapping the maze to taping off the wheels to increase traction

  • @NeuroPulse
    @NeuroPulse 10 місяців тому +1598

    Once you understand what goes into mouse navigation, this goes from appearing as odd nerd behavior to something genuinely impressive.

    • @phatmusic
      @phatmusic 10 місяців тому +70

      Yupp I think that's most things. That's why I love learning! Appreciate life!

    • @charliebaby7065
      @charliebaby7065 10 місяців тому +10

      well said. youre hired

    • @commentfreely5443
      @commentfreely5443 10 місяців тому +30

      and when they put machine guns on them and send them into tunnels after humans...

    • @revimfadli4666
      @revimfadli4666 10 місяців тому +15

      Same with any sufficiently advanced "odd nerd behaviour" tbh

    • @sirfer6969
      @sirfer6969 10 місяців тому +7

      Be that as it may, those are some shockingly weak mazes with **many** paths to success. Lets get some AI generated mazes in there where excessive diagonals are not included...

  • @xs1190
    @xs1190 10 місяців тому +901

    Man, seriously.. The guys behind the video editing and simulations in your videos are pure genius. Wish I could meet such guys to learn from.

    • @solderbuff
      @solderbuff 10 місяців тому +1

      🤔

    • @koenamh
      @koenamh 10 місяців тому +8

      They are Veritasium, mate

    • @Hugh.Manatee
      @Hugh.Manatee 10 місяців тому +8

      @@koenamh He's got a team behind him nowadays right? Did Derek make the animations? Does he still do his own editing?

    • @MondyTS
      @MondyTS 10 місяців тому +2

      ​@@Hugh.Manatee I'm 99% sure he doesn't

    • @Sephiloud
      @Sephiloud 10 місяців тому +9

      @@Hugh.Manatee Just look at the end of the description to see who made what in this video. Pretty detailed so i like it xD

  • @josephwatson4616
    @josephwatson4616 8 місяців тому +9

    Thanks for this very interesting video.
    Many years ago, Richard Browne, who worked as a technician for Bell Telephone, had seen an article published in the company newsletter that described and showed pictures of Claude Shannon's electronic mouse. Knowing that the mouse used telephone relays to control its motions and solve the problem and having access to scrapped telephone relays, he restored some relays and set out to duplicate the whole thing. The original published article did not detail how it was all done, so my friend figured it out for himself. I remember that the memory for each of the 25 cells of the maze area required two relays which recorded the direction the mouse had last left that cell.
    Near the end of this machine's life ,somewhere around the late 1970s, I met and became friends with Richard. I saw the machine myself and was thrilled by how well it worked. Later, Richard went on to build marble machines, intricate wooden machines that allowed a marble to pass through various gravity-driven paths. Sadly, Richard passed away in 2013, but you can still see his videos about some of his marble machines. Although never completed, his grandest machine, called Marble Machine 3, was one of his creations described by Richard in videos here on UA-cam.

  • @emmetthowell899
    @emmetthowell899 6 місяців тому +149

    Humans are absolutely beautiful. Both the people competing and over 12 million people on UA-cam are invested in the idea of making a tiny robot solve a maze and it’s so random and came from just one person and now it’s huge. Sometimes I need things like this to remind me humans are pretty neat sometimes

    • @DivinityAwakened
      @DivinityAwakened 6 місяців тому +11

      Its just a shame that science and technology isn't the average human's main focus. The average human is more focused on materialism or climbing the social hierarchy ladder. If we were a mainly scientific species, the world would be such a better place.

    • @phunweng962
      @phunweng962 6 місяців тому +9

      @@DivinityAwakened In short, nerds should take charge of the world.

    • @jumbomuffin1316
      @jumbomuffin1316 29 днів тому

      Humans are pathetic

  • @photophone5574
    @photophone5574 10 місяців тому +569

    20:20 Imagine a giant cylindrical maze where the mice can go upside down. Or even a maze with loops like in Sonic, so the mice will have to account for more than a 2D map of the area.

    • @acemad1
      @acemad1 10 місяців тому +32

      I’m thinking 3D mazes in water or air mazes. But, surely, one can complicate it even more, adding rare shapes to it or even simulating 4 dimensions, building a tesseract.

    • @mariusvanc
      @mariusvanc 10 місяців тому +50

      It really has stopped being a maze solving competition, it's about movement execution.

    • @Appletank8
      @Appletank8 10 місяців тому +9

      Imagine quadcopter maze running.

    • @tenshi6293
      @tenshi6293 10 місяців тому +7

      mario kart 8

    • @nomon7646
      @nomon7646 10 місяців тому +5

      A Möbius-Maze?

  • @user-yb4ob9ig1r
    @user-yb4ob9ig1r 10 місяців тому +1815

    As one of those who missed the podium of the All-Japan Competition this year, I can tell you that the level at which they are competing for the champion is on a completely different level.
    one of them mentioned that he changed the optical rotary encoder disc from plastic to paper, making it 0.15g lighter!

    • @BuckingHorse-Bull
      @BuckingHorse-Bull 10 місяців тому +229

      what do they mean i cant attached nuclear reactors and rocket propulsion to my micromouse

    • @Ibloop
      @Ibloop 10 місяців тому +85

      Well on a micro scale that 0.15g could be something like 3 pounds relatively

    • @Hellsong89
      @Hellsong89 10 місяців тому +66

      So they have already swapped steel to carbon fiber screws or axles or straight to adhesives to save weight? Biggest issue i see with these advances seem to be that its money game to manufacture lightest parts witch require high quality tooling to produce well as having already wealth of knowledge on the robotics. Sure i can plan maybe even lighter mouse with things mentioned, but i'm decades behind on building the software to level where i could even compete.

    • @Ibloop
      @Ibloop 10 місяців тому +76

      @@Hellsong89 skill issue (couldn’t resist)

    • @GhostsOfSparta
      @GhostsOfSparta 10 місяців тому +4

      Is jumping allowed?

  • @GlennLittleford
    @GlennLittleford 29 днів тому +3

    In 1980 I was 15, bought my first electronics magazine. It had a micromouse article, that inspired me to get into computers. At 58, I'm a software developer for my own business.

  • @m.s.s.y.g7476
    @m.s.s.y.g7476 4 місяці тому +16

    Cannot believe i watched an entire documentary about small little robots having the same g force as formula 1 cars and going so fast you can barely see it, Loved it.

  • @TheFinalRevelation1
    @TheFinalRevelation1 10 місяців тому +614

    This is perhaps the only channel whose videos I wait for

    • @iPrint3D
      @iPrint3D 10 місяців тому +18

      You need more channels

    • @TheFinalRevelation1
      @TheFinalRevelation1 10 місяців тому +14

      @@iPrint3D I follow lots of channels. This one still has my attention after all these years. One thing you'll note is he does not show himself all the time on the camera. He does not appear that often, its mostly his voice.

    • @alcodark
      @alcodark 10 місяців тому +8

      mine's 3blue1brown

    • @noahfrfr_10
      @noahfrfr_10 10 місяців тому +16

      *VSauce has entered the chat*

    • @silvervortex2441
      @silvervortex2441 10 місяців тому +4

      Lemmino

  • @MrKyle700
    @MrKyle700 10 місяців тому +657

    When the guy you were interviewing said "you come along one day, you see everything and you go "huh. that doesn't look to hard, i could do that,' but then you find yourself sucked into a deep and rewarding hobby" i felt that in my bones. I got into rc planes much the same way. Honestly watching this micromouse thing made me think the same thing like huh i bet i could make a mouse..

    • @roshanantony7467
      @roshanantony7467 10 місяців тому +8

      you are right, i felt his words too! i have a similar story; ive watched a lot of rc planes but it looked so damn hard and the cost involved is toooo high so i never ventured into it. however when I had the chance to attend a uni technofest where I saw contestants competing with their soccer cars, it clicked - this doesnt seem too hard! And thats how i got into making my first rc soccer car using arduino uno. now this mouse vid makes me think, how to even start coding such a thing!?

    • @williamstrachan
      @williamstrachan 10 місяців тому +3

      This is how I got into slot car racing. Just go along, enjoy the weekly racing... go to a national race competition, finish in the bottom 10%, get the bug more... a few years later, routinely entering 6 and 12 hour races with an annual 24 hour (as a team, not just myself o_o)
      Still want to get into RC aircraft, but £££ of course. And I want to try the fan concept from micromouse in a slot car first, to see if it even works with our tracks (wooden tracks with a routed slot are often smooth, but the majority of my races are on plastic track that has imperfections... the smooth plastic sheet from the downforce demo in this video would be a dream to race on!)

    • @syberphish
      @syberphish 10 місяців тому +2

      Yeah but like rc planes, you really have to derive your own joy from it. Maybe it's different where you live, but people are kinda a-holes about the rc aircraft hobby. They either don't want it around, or they've forgotten more than you'll ever know. Maybe it's like that with everything.

    • @Majestic_King_Hunter
      @Majestic_King_Hunter 10 місяців тому +2

      I thought to myself "That is the driving force of humanity lol" when the guy said that.

    • @stevethea5250
      @stevethea5250 10 місяців тому

      Timestamp?

  • @TabbyVee
    @TabbyVee 17 днів тому +2

    i love the peoples reaction to the first ever micromouse to cut corners, you can hear everyones amazement at that first turn.

  • @scriptles
    @scriptles 4 місяці тому +6

    I love the idea of this. It's a really cool way to involve science, mathmatics, robotics, and fun into a really cool competition.

  • @percival5771
    @percival5771 10 місяців тому +1284

    the way they manage to maintain a perfect distance from the walls, and go SO FAST is insane

    • @TheNefastor
      @TheNefastor 10 місяців тому +50

      Not really. Keep in mind that the microcontrollers in those robots can do hundreds of millions of computations per second. If any uses an FPGA instead, that could be an even bigger number. From the robots' perspective, it must "feel" like driving at 0.01 mile per hour.

    • @percival5771
      @percival5771 10 місяців тому +128

      @@TheNefastor it’s just incredible to watch something so small maintain such precise control from the perspective of someone who has very little experience in robotics.

    • @Craftlngo
      @Craftlngo 10 місяців тому +7

      @@TheNefastor using FPGA's was also my first thought in reducing the computation times dramatically. I don't think that any of the winning mices are using a microcontroller.

    • @TheNefastor
      @TheNefastor 10 місяців тому +7

      @@Craftlngo I wouldn't know, but don't underestimate MCU's. The fastest STM32 runs at 550 MHz last I checked, that's plenty enough to run this kind of challenge.

    • @aukahpusing9887
      @aukahpusing9887 10 місяців тому +7

      @@TheNefastor How about the momentum, power cut-off, and wheel friction, do they calculate all of them as well? I wonder if let's say the sensor and computer can decide the next step fast enough, will the output of the movement be straightforward?

  • @TanvirAhmed-xr8il
    @TanvirAhmed-xr8il 10 місяців тому +1497

    My respect to all the previous engineers of the past whose mouse was really slow, their consistency to push this competition further paved the way for today's modern engineers. This is one of the prime examples of what humanity can achieve while working together generation by generation.

    • @CyAA-ri2us
      @CyAA-ri2us 10 місяців тому +28

      @@mahyarshokraeian It's part of my humanity to claw my way out of eating nothing but scraps, and onwards into engineering.
      Saying that feats of science is a waste invalidates people who actually escaped the poverty line through science. It's like telling me that I need to go back down there just because I'm able to feed me and my family now.
      Instead of being derogatory to science, why don't you just inspire people to aim for this knowledge so they too escape like I did.
      People inspired me to climb, and so can you.

    • @davidsvarrer8942
      @davidsvarrer8942 10 місяців тому +7

      Oh yes, and by playing playfully !!!! While doing the most serious of all engineering works.

    • @FromTheHeart2
      @FromTheHeart2 10 місяців тому +2

      ​@@mahyarshokraeianyou don't have to choose. You can do both at the same time.

    • @CptBonex
      @CptBonex 10 місяців тому +11

      @@mahyarshokraeian I'm sure you spend every second of your life dedicated to making the world a better place and never waste time on any kind of entertainment and you only spend enough money to survive while donating the rest to charity.

    • @doesntmatter2732
      @doesntmatter2732 10 місяців тому +4

      @@mahyarshokraeian what do you do to stop world hunger?

  • @GeorgeZoto
    @GeorgeZoto 6 місяців тому +4

    Great episode, thank you for doing all the research behind it. Love the explanations you gave, the algorithms behind it and the special moments over time :)

  • @KevinVenturePhilippines
    @KevinVenturePhilippines 13 днів тому +1

    This actually helps a lot if applied to food delivery, not even kidding. The shortest route is not always the fastest route. So I never even realized I was playing this game the entire last year, lol.

  • @fareedulhaq7551
    @fareedulhaq7551 10 місяців тому +304

    am i the only one who had a big wide smile throughout the whole video? i am just amazed and fascinated by simplicity of task but the ferocious ingenuity of the competitors. just loved it

    • @thomas.thomas
      @thomas.thomas 10 місяців тому +5

      same

    • @Phantom-ws2hj
      @Phantom-ws2hj 10 місяців тому +4

      lol same

    • @fmga
      @fmga 10 місяців тому +3

      Same

    • @travellingslim
      @travellingslim 10 місяців тому

      same

    • @solandri69
      @solandri69 10 місяців тому +1

      I kinda wish he'd segued into robot-sumo. The robots and many of the strategies are similar, but they need to tackle a dynamic problem (push the other robot out of the ring) rather than a static one (navigate an unchanging maze).

  • @bebeusxl9842
    @bebeusxl9842 10 місяців тому +643

    It's amazing how such a simple concept as a robotical mouse running in a maze can have so many implications and thought put into it.

    • @Gingnose
      @Gingnose 10 місяців тому +1

      Maybe it is simple that enables competitors to come up with original ideas.

  • @akamarvin
    @akamarvin 6 місяців тому +4

    The sections / structure / narrative of this video, in order to be exhaustive about the evolution and multiple aspects of that sport. Once again, second to none. Great content, sponsors very much on point, and at the end of the video. Amazing channel.

  • @TankenkaNeko
    @TankenkaNeko 8 місяців тому +4

    The applications for this after (considerably) further development are very cool. Imagine these being refined further from micro-mice to nano-mice... something that instead can traverse liquid... and viola... diagnostics in medicine. Or, something that can navigate complex terrain... search bots for people/animals trapped under rubble in disaster zones. While it's certainly useful to have large or complex mobile robots that can do the saving / transporting of life-saving materials or methods... having search/diagnostic/mapping robots are equally important, particularly where time is of the essence. One further application could be in darker cases where people disappear (by natural or nefarious means) and need to be found quickly to be saved.

  • @hiselbii5326
    @hiselbii5326 10 місяців тому +1228

    As someone who has participated in robotics competitions, it's so emotional, it's like horse racing, but you have spent months building the horse with everything you have. Just being there with all these people, seeing their genius solutions to the problem, it's so much fun. I would truly recommend it to anyone

    • @stuchris
      @stuchris 9 місяців тому +6

      which league of competition? I was on an FRC team in highschool!

    • @hiselbii5326
      @hiselbii5326 9 місяців тому +9

      @@stuchris I participated in student robotics, thats a competition in Greate Britain, but my group also went to EuroBot several times

    • @yune1000
      @yune1000 9 місяців тому +2

      How much technical knowledge do you need to get started, can you do it without an engineering degree?

    • @stuchris
      @stuchris 9 місяців тому +9

      @@yune1000 you can literally do it in middle school with no prior knowledge

    • @hiselbii5326
      @hiselbii5326 9 місяців тому +12

      @@yune1000 absolutely, I was in highschool, so I had no degree at all. I think you can learn most of what you need on UA-cam. Soldering would be a good skill and some basic knowledge of how coding works. Everything else will come with time and practice

  • @Jakerton
    @Jakerton 10 місяців тому +284

    bro I can barely figure out the "captcha" puzzles/mazes... some people just built diffy

    • @pi0neer758
      @pi0neer758 10 місяців тому +2

      fr

    • @kurtramos59
      @kurtramos59 10 місяців тому +3

      fr fr

    • @__Obscure__
      @__Obscure__ 10 місяців тому +1

      Yoooo, I didn't know you watched Veritasium, Jake! Based meme dad.

    • @Kosmo_Z
      @Kosmo_Z 10 місяців тому

      Jakerton is turning into Justin Y

    • @markiyanturyk7626
      @markiyanturyk7626 10 місяців тому +1

      Didn’t expect to see you here

  • @WereDictionary
    @WereDictionary 15 днів тому +1

    I havent seen this pop up here yet but Theseus is a pretty good name for essentially the precursor to AI.
    The Theseus' Ship paradox goes like "if we replace every single piece of a ship over time, can we still call it the same ship?"
    Because if you compare the final version to the first version, literally everything has been swapped out and yet, on an individual basis, the majority of the ship has always stayed the same. We build out home tower PCs on the same grounds.
    And while the core idea of a mouse solving a labyrinth has remained the same, pretty much every component of the original Theseus has been improved on, swapped out or both.

  • @styleniko4339
    @styleniko4339 7 місяців тому +11

    This is so interesting!! I didn’t even know they had such competition but glad I got to know this exists!!

  • @juzujuzu4555
    @juzujuzu4555 10 місяців тому +336

    Pretty impressive. Going from "this is boring" to "I bet I will be the one who come up with the next big innovation on this great sport" in less than 25 minutes.

    • @emwhaibee
      @emwhaibee 10 місяців тому +5

      Best of luck on your journey. ⛵

    • @whataboutthis10
      @whataboutthis10 13 годин тому

      Check _superiority complex_
      you're a candidate to go from "this is bs" to "I'm the best example ever" in 11minutes

  • @haariger_wookie5646
    @haariger_wookie5646 10 місяців тому +101

    This video was a roller coaster: First stunned because I thought they have to solve the maze in their first run, then disappointed because they didn't, then amazed again about the speed of these things and the engineering done to achieve that

  • @sw2de3fr4gt
    @sw2de3fr4gt 8 місяців тому +14

    My Computing Science teacher made this an assignment in the first semester even when we barely learned how to do loops. It's such a simple to understand yet complex problem which sparked my interested in the CS field.

  • @fs-code
    @fs-code 5 днів тому

    The story telling on this video feels great! I have been following this channel for many years now. But how captivating the videos are still keeps increasing. I just watched 25 minutes about little mouse-like maze-solving robots, but it felt like 5 minutes.

  • @m.j.nilsson
    @m.j.nilsson 10 місяців тому +250

    I would love to see a layered maze with multiple floors and ramps, like a parking hall. Bottom is the start and top is the goal

    • @argyem6688
      @argyem6688 10 місяців тому +31

      And they need to make the problem more complicated again - like adding in the free-standing walls. How about some curved walls, or pegboard holes in the floor, or rough surfaces, or transparent walls, or curtained-off short-cuts?

    • @ThinkingNow
      @ThinkingNow 10 місяців тому +15

      Or add "cats" that block parts of the maze as they follow predefined paths. So the mouse has to probe the movement of the cats as well as the walls to find the best path.

    • @mudmug1
      @mudmug1 10 місяців тому +2

      Doors/gates

    • @shayon1174
      @shayon1174 10 місяців тому +5

      Opening and closing gates like in fall guys

    • @wasgehtsiedasan8660
      @wasgehtsiedasan8660 10 місяців тому +7

      Add a lava moat filled with fire alligators

  • @NicolasSilvaVasault
    @NicolasSilvaVasault 10 місяців тому +477

    even including fans for suction? these guys are insane, the amount of work put onto this

    • @truepennytv
      @truepennytv 10 місяців тому +27

      When I first saw the footage I wonder where they were getting that much traction from and my assumption was magnets (and the maze was built on a metal plate) but doing it with a fan is a far cooler solution to that problem. Self contained as well.

    • @NicolasSilvaVasault
      @NicolasSilvaVasault 10 місяців тому +1

      @@truepennytv i thought it was similar to the road used in drag races, the road is pretty sticky, but yeah you're right

    • @Tyrunz
      @Tyrunz 10 місяців тому +22

      And what is so cool is that as long as you stay in the general rules that keeps the spirit intact, no one will tell you "no you can't use that it's too good"

    • @Blechfuchs
      @Blechfuchs 10 місяців тому +16

      F1 teams were experimenting with that technology in the 70s (as far as I remember), but such fans were prohibited by the technical rules after only one season as fan failures in turns or cars hopping over curbs was devastating and even fatal.

    • @doyouwanttogivemelekiss3097
      @doyouwanttogivemelekiss3097 10 місяців тому +12

      When you think about it, it is actually quite obvious to every car geek.
      There have been tons of ground effect cars, including the chapparal 2j (with a fan), or in formula 1 the lotus 78/79 (with skirts), or the Brabham (with a fan, but different), etc.
      So IMHO, yes, surprising, but also obvious at the same time 😂

  • @jspoden3
    @jspoden3 Місяць тому +1

    This is such a testament to engineering. I'm always impressed how generationally, or year to year, engineering evolves in complexity to become more and more precise and innovative far exceeding what the original concepts could have ever predicted.

  • @WolffXIII
    @WolffXIII 6 місяців тому +1

    MAN!!! I have never been more interested in a video. I competed in a Lego Mindstorm maze completion back in 2003, when I was in highschool. The point you bring up about dust was a factor, BUT the biggest factor for us wasn't dust... it was the charge on the AA batteries... You never mentioned that, but you definitely should of. As well, we won the competition, entered the robot in the science fair and wone an award from Intel.

  • @eriks2200
    @eriks2200 10 місяців тому +123

    Woah! When I saw this video was posted, I walked straight out of my office 30ft to tell Dave Otten (from the video) that it was posted. He was quite excited!

    • @ChemEDan
      @ChemEDan 10 місяців тому +54

      Did you make diagonals in the hallway?

    • @eriks2200
      @eriks2200 10 місяців тому +37

      @@ChemEDan between lab benches, yes. Gotta be efficient

    • @SDsc0rch
      @SDsc0rch 10 місяців тому +3

      seriously under rated comment!

    • @GetawayFilms
      @GetawayFilms 10 місяців тому +2

      Ah... 30 feet isn't far enough to justify using a portal gun, I get ya

  • @Bean_Soup
    @Bean_Soup 10 місяців тому +359

    Calling that mouse “Red Comet” is such a great touch. It’s a reference to the nickname to a mobile suit pilot who was 3x as fast as the others in Gundam!

    • @Nick-rs5if
      @Nick-rs5if 10 місяців тому +8

      Spotted that too, I love that reference! 😁

    • @hypothalapotamus5293
      @hypothalapotamus5293 10 місяців тому +9

      If they have a Char Aznable mouse in the competition, Mighty mouse = Big Zam.

    • @drane4563
      @drane4563 10 місяців тому +5

      red always go faster

    • @CarlosBronze
      @CarlosBronze 10 місяців тому +2

      oh its not about that guys dog then?

    • @SenselessUsername
      @SenselessUsername 10 місяців тому +2

      Along similar lines, the original competition LeMouse 5000 refers to the french 24h endurance car race at Le Mans (as the french use "souris" not "mouse" for computer & other mice).

  • @CloudColumncat
    @CloudColumncat 21 день тому +1

    This inspires me. There is no need for any fancy reviews. Simply put, this inspired me.

  • @patprop74
    @patprop74 8 місяців тому +6

    never herd of such a race, but was rather interesting to learn about it. Thank you for this little nugget of information.

  • @DirtyRobot
    @DirtyRobot 10 місяців тому +293

    I don't think people understand how big this event is in Japan.
    I was teaching robotics in Japan and a student said that I should come to this club and check it out. It was the Micromouse club I I was shocked at how awesome their hardware and software was.
    I had to take a serious look at my viewpoints on robotics after seeing this subculture.

    • @arealperson641
      @arealperson641 10 місяців тому +18

      But do you have to be a virgin or can anyone compete?

    • @laimejannister5627
      @laimejannister5627 10 місяців тому +42

      but why do girls somehow get weirded out when I wink and tell them I can show them my micromouse in my bedroom? are they not into robotics as much as I thought?

    • @taoarg9000
      @taoarg9000 10 місяців тому +14

      @@laimejannister5627 they prefer at least an average size mouse

    • @laimejannister5627
      @laimejannister5627 10 місяців тому +7

      @@taoarg9000 one time I said I could ask my bros to bring some big ones over and we could try them together then she just left. haven't seen her since.

    • @rogerborg
      @rogerborg 10 місяців тому +21

      @@laimejannister5627 Did you try telling them that you can finish in under 10 seconds?

  • @BluishGreenPro
    @BluishGreenPro 10 місяців тому +268

    I love that they are allowed to experiment and add new hardware to the mouse; it will be great to check back in on these competitions in a few years time and see what innovations they have come up with

    • @jaretanderson
      @jaretanderson 10 місяців тому +21

      I think this is crucial to the event's longevity. "Solved" competitions are only solved when there is no more room to iterate within the ruleset, so flexible rules are the best way to foster innovation.

    • @user-tp3qc6el3u
      @user-tp3qc6el3u 10 місяців тому +1

      Maybe in the future there will be variations of the game involving 3d mazes and other types of obstacle courses

    • @OpinionatedSkink
      @OpinionatedSkink 10 місяців тому

      It will be embedded with the brain of a 13 year old high school sprinter with angst issues, forced to run the race for eternity to save humanity from the rat race.

  • @Panchurros753
    @Panchurros753 8 місяців тому +4

    16:13 Geometry Dash is a 2013 game made by popular indie developer Robert Nicholas Christian Topala, also known as RobTop.

  • @akibmohtasim
    @akibmohtasim 23 дні тому +1

    This is the best UA-cam Channel ever. Period.

  • @aerohk
    @aerohk 10 місяців тому +298

    As someone who led a micro mouse team back in undergrad, this video is extremely well done and interesting. Thankful this video exists.

    • @TheFakeDingieWingie
      @TheFakeDingieWingie 10 місяців тому +1

      i’ve decided you didn’t and are wrong

    • @memehamsterr
      @memehamsterr 9 місяців тому +1

      @@TheFakeDingieWingie bro is disgrace to hampter lovers

    • @TheFakeDingieWingie
      @TheFakeDingieWingie 9 місяців тому

      @@memehamsterr one of these days your shoes a will tie themselves.

  • @Quaternionic
    @Quaternionic 10 місяців тому +744

    Wow, I'm almost 40 and I remember competing in this kind of competition back when I was 15 and studying for my IT GCSE. I remember spending hours tweaking the motor commands to the main 2 wheels to be able to take corners as quickly as possible and very crude attempts at a maze searching algorithm - I think I made some terrible combination of trial and error and "always keep your hand on the left wall". One of my best memories of that class :)

    • @maulikshah28
      @maulikshah28 9 місяців тому +5

      wow

    • @toby9999
      @toby9999 9 місяців тому +8

      Amazing. Never heard of this before seeing this video.

    • @SamuelClarkefedede
      @SamuelClarkefedede 9 місяців тому +1

      ​@@MonikaDudek-sw8piPlease am new to this and I've incurred so much loss in investing.

    • @DavidDDeClercq
      @DavidDDeClercq 9 місяців тому +1

      Am so happy my financial life has changed ever since I knew Mr Alan Hernandez I've been earning over $20,600 every week.

    • @CraigCurtis-ws8dl
      @CraigCurtis-ws8dl 9 місяців тому +1

      I'm also happy to start trading with Mr. Alan Hernandez, who has time to monitor your trading account with an Expert is the best strategy for novice and busy investors.

  • @h_m_bhat
    @h_m_bhat 7 місяців тому

    During my Engg college days, we guys did Pick & place bots for inter-college competitions. Those bots had to navigate similar obstacles, pick the object like a small TT ball, or a cube, then place it somewhere else. All controlled remotely. Wired or wireless, anything was fine. And a couple of years later, Bot Hockey too. These bots had to play Hockey.
    These kinda videos are reminiscing my college days, where we guys used to spend nights together in creating these Bots & playing with them. It’s soo satisfying & brings smile to my face. 😀 Thank u ❤

  • @user-ks8oq8vq1w
    @user-ks8oq8vq1w Місяць тому +3

    I'd like to see a hexagonal maze or better yet, a maze with curvy walls in these maze solving competitions.

  • @TheLandoMo
    @TheLandoMo 10 місяців тому +205

    I'm so grateful that I live in a time where I can get this level of information from my couch for free. What a time to be alive.

    • @dr.angerous
      @dr.angerous 10 місяців тому +3

      Facepalm

    • @Ak-us3sh
      @Ak-us3sh 10 місяців тому +2

      ​@@dr.angerous why?

    • @DragonOfTheMortalKombat
      @DragonOfTheMortalKombat 10 місяців тому +8

      @@Ak-us3sh Probably some ancient alien believer.

    • @cact0s_ulion405
      @cact0s_ulion405 10 місяців тому +10

      Every time I see that phrase I think of 2 minute papers

    • @theairaccumulator7144
      @theairaccumulator7144 10 місяців тому +1

      @@Tp.123- The planet is dying but what can one man do about it? The only thing that can be done is taking down the tyrants at the top.

  • @user-zm7fz8mn8f
    @user-zm7fz8mn8f 10 місяців тому +458

    The really interesting part of this for me, as a motorsports fan, is the fact that so much of the innovation has followed a similar path to motorsports.
    The famous Brabham BT46 "fan car" was a F1 car that had a fan attached which sucked it down to the ground, providing greater downforce and cornering. It debuted in 1978 and was banned after a single race (which it won).

    • @pobrecitossb7450
      @pobrecitossb7450 10 місяців тому +99

      I was thinking about this exact thing. I like how micro mouse doesn’t change the rules when a certain change becomes commonplace or too dominant unlike in Motorsport. There’s always room for innovation.

    • @tthurlow
      @tthurlow 10 місяців тому +36

      @@pobrecitossb7450to be fair, innovating on a huge vehicle is far more expensive than innovating on a mouse sized robot.

    • @matthewklumper1248
      @matthewklumper1248 10 місяців тому +17

      No, no, that was just a cooling fan. 😉😄

    • @glenmatthes8839
      @glenmatthes8839 10 місяців тому +2

      Thank you. I was trying to remember where I'd heard about the car with a fan for suction to hold it to the ground.

    • @inigomontoya4109
      @inigomontoya4109 10 місяців тому +30

      ​@@tthurlow thats not really the issue that keeps motor sports from doing crazy stuff like they will try in this competition. While yes innovation in motor sports is expensive, we've seen over the decades the insane amount of money companies will spend to innovate to win a race.
      The issue with motor sports is the fleshy meat bag operating the vehicle. If a little mighty mouse robot runs into a wall at 50 mph, catches fire and goes pop, it's kind of funny and everyone might be out some money. If an f-1 car goes airborne doing 250 mph into the bleachers because Mercedes was allowed to do whatever, you could easily see a large amount of human casualties.
      A great example is the old group B rally circuit where there where minimal rules for the manufacturers. It got wild, the cars where insane, tons of innovation and lots of death and injury for the short time it existed.

  • @myparceltape1169
    @myparceltape1169 8 днів тому

    This reminds me of an old book in Reid Kerr Engineering College I found 1970 +/- one year. Logic behind mechanical mice.
    It described 3-wheel self propelled mice which would not fall off a table.
    There were two tables considered. One had a slightly raised edge, the other had none. The latter had two sensors, one to detect a drop ahead of it and the other to detect a collision.
    A collision in either or a detected drop in the latter type would trigger a right turn.
    Now that I have seen computer mice I wonder if Xerox Labs had any input. But the book looked quite old, although 10 years would be old.

  • @smileypain1
    @smileypain1 4 місяці тому +6

    I wonder if using small electro magnets to shift weight to different sides could help knock/slide/push the mouse internally to increase turning control making sharper faster turns and even help with recovery from those turns.

  • @hitomi7922
    @hitomi7922 10 місяців тому +139

    I'm sad that this is the first I'm hearing of this amazing competition. Thank you for bringing this to our attention!

    • @stevethea5250
      @stevethea5250 10 місяців тому +1

      It loses novelty fast. I've watched before

    • @katherinemelendez1818
      @katherinemelendez1818 10 місяців тому

      *His method surprises me. A Friend that I referred to him, just received €50,150 profit after 7days of investing.....I became jealous,...Lol*

  • @thesprawl2361
    @thesprawl2361 10 місяців тому +416

    I love that Red Comet got there faster than the other mouse by actually doing what racing drivers do and taking the *racing line* to the goal, ie. maximising top speed through the straights and minimising speed loss by taking fewer turns. Brilliant.
    The fact that that consideration doesn't seem to have occurred to any of the other competitors before then tells you something quite deep about knowledge: you don't know what you don't know. There will always be 'unknown unknowns'. Saying 'we've reached our limit, we've solved all the problems there are in this subject' is a failure of imagination.

    • @nativenugget
      @nativenugget 10 місяців тому +11

      i really thought "unknown unknowns" wasn't the right word to use but u prove it right (or wrong?)

    • @FancyUnicorn
      @FancyUnicorn 10 місяців тому +9

      How do racing drivers take fewer turns if they're racing the same track?

    • @willp8812
      @willp8812 10 місяців тому +18

      ​@@FancyUnicorn Racing "line" is important because the track width is usually 2x - 5x the width of the car. The most efficient use of available grip comes from maximizing the radius of each turn (although there are exceptions) by moving across the track.
      For instance, the "racing line" entering a left 90-degree corner would have the driver start on the right side of the track approaching the corner, move to the left during the turn while striking the inside left apex, and end up back on the right side of the track on corner exit. This "line" maximizes the turning radius, and is much faster than staying on the left side of the track for the entire turn.

    • @fantasy_foexig1116
      @fantasy_foexig1116 10 місяців тому +2

      @@nativenugget major boondocks vibes

    • @juliovouga7246
      @juliovouga7246 10 місяців тому +17

      @FancyUnicorn they don't take fewer turns. They take more efficient ones.

  • @imaloony8
    @imaloony8 4 дні тому

    The absolute brilliance of vacuuming the mouse to the ground so it can make turns at that speed just stuns me. Innovation at its finest.

  • @rdyer8764
    @rdyer8764 10 місяців тому +273

    Some History: The first Micro Mouse competition was won by former colleagues of mine at Battelle NW in Washington State. They had a 3-step algorithm - 1) Random Walk through the maze, 2) Explore every square (and walls) not encountered during the first run, 3) Compute and drive the shortest (distance) path. Of course the early mazes were much smaller, and they were also less complex so that a mouse with no smarts could execute the wall following algorithm. The fastest (time) mouse the first year used that technique. The microprocessor they built was from what Intel called "Floor Sweepings" - fully functional, but cosmetically defective chips. These incredibly talented engineers were the first in our department to put together an embedded system as I remember. It was a FANTASTIC place to work full of innovative and amazingly personable people. Best job I ever had! Our group's claim to fame 5 years later was to create the world's first self-contained Rubik's Cube solving robot. Just like the first Micro Mouse, Cubot's time of 2:40 has been eclipsed many times over. Still...there's a nostalgic feeling that grabs me every time I see one of these mouse competitions...

    • @fortuneolawale9113
      @fortuneolawale9113 10 місяців тому +9

      woah. that's great

    • @besterspieler2285
      @besterspieler2285 10 місяців тому +2

      That is actually a cool story. You must be really old though

    • @fortuneolawale9113
      @fortuneolawale9113 10 місяців тому +3

      During those times, what did you guys envision future technology to be like?

    • @forthebirds4
      @forthebirds4 10 місяців тому +7

      @@besterspieler2285 If you're lucky, you will be too one day. Respect your elders.

    • @mantrachhaya6835
      @mantrachhaya6835 10 місяців тому +4

      ​@@forthebirds4 what he probably meant was that since he has witnessed all that, he might have been a young engineer then, so definitely he may be old, there is nothing disrespecting in asking if someone is old or not, did he de mean him ? What's your issue, what's hurting you so much, calm down bro, with that attitude you are going nowhere....

  • @aaronaaronsen3360
    @aaronaaronsen3360 10 місяців тому +408

    Im a motorsport enthusiast and got really excited when they announced Roborace. Sadly it never caught on and became a joke before disappearing.
    Seeing those robot mices racing in those mazes really is awesome and I'd happily watch an AI race with full size cars and tracks.

    • @DizzyDisco93
      @DizzyDisco93 10 місяців тому +56

      I'd be able to enjoy crashes without guilt!

    • @aaronaaronsen3360
      @aaronaaronsen3360 10 місяців тому +50

      @@DizzyDisco93 yeah and since there wouldn't be no human inside the vehicle, safety would be limited to spectators and we could have super light and fast cars !

    • @zwan1886
      @zwan1886 9 місяців тому +7

      In all actuality you'd watch it once and probably never again because it would be incredibly boring. At top tier racing, once all the cars are the same from hitting the limit of technology and/or budget, the only real dynamic factor is the human component.

    • @ThomasKafer
      @ThomasKafer 9 місяців тому +15

      @@zwan1886 there's always a human component, and already today the bigger factor in most racing events today is more the human engineer rather than the human driver imho.

    • @zwan1886
      @zwan1886 9 місяців тому +3

      @@ThomasKafer Then you don't know much about racing because they put caps on what is allowed, and when there aren't the races are won by whichever organization has more dollars, so it's just pay to win which doesn't make for an exciting spectator sport either.

  • @bearnaff9387
    @bearnaff9387 7 місяців тому +3

    My favorite cameo for Micromouse came from an early episode of the long-forgotten but groundbreaking sci-fi TV show, Max Headrom. Micromice competitions were a part of the curriculum of a school for gifted youngsters that were involved in the plot of an episode.

    • @Tonyhouse1168
      @Tonyhouse1168 Місяць тому

      Is that the thing Seth Meyers hates?

  • @Emil-Antonowsky
    @Emil-Antonowsky 7 місяців тому +2

    This was absolutely fascinating. I never knew this existed. Thanks.

  • @xxbongobazookaxx7170
    @xxbongobazookaxx7170 10 місяців тому +99

    That British accent "OH YOU SNEAKY LITTLE-" when it turned diagonally for the first time is hilarious to me

    • @Milkypandas
      @Milkypandas 10 місяців тому +30

      "Oh you sneaky devil you, you cheeky bugger" 14:18

  • @michaelpolakowski7301
    @michaelpolakowski7301 10 місяців тому +841

    It'd be interesting to add some curved sections to the maze and see how that affects the routing algorithms. It looks like the mice can already handle them mechanically.

    • @00linered
      @00linered 10 місяців тому +99

      CURVES SECTIONS?!?
      Something tells me that could either make or break the algorithms.
      Think about the flash fill method... they use a grid to map the maze. Now how would that grid work with a curved section?!?

    • @Poutrel
      @Poutrel 10 місяців тому +41

      @@00linered I guess you could either subdivide the grid further, or maybe work with floats?

    • @jayathranps1319
      @jayathranps1319 10 місяців тому +70

      @@00linered wouldn't that be the new challenge?

    • @kke
      @kke 10 місяців тому +28

      Or bridges

    • @theblinkingbrownie4654
      @theblinkingbrownie4654 10 місяців тому +38

      ​@@jayathranps1319Exactly, transform the sport! Curved sections would be so much fun to watch.

  • @duconlajoie9680
    @duconlajoie9680 3 місяці тому +1

    the flood strategy is like the when we follow the compass in obsidian games ( skyrim etc ): trying to go straight the objective, getting around obstacles on our way

  • @CobraTheSpacePirate
    @CobraTheSpacePirate 6 днів тому

    First graders (10th graders) at our school kind of do a micro mouse theme unit with LEGO EV3. They have been doing it for like 15 years. First it was with the LEGO RCX then with NXT and now with EV3. A while back 2013, two of our exchange students from South Korea participated in the micro mouse tournament and that was when I first heard about it. I would like to learn more about now. I think that because we have Kosen Robocon which is televised on NHK every year, it may be a little bigger deal than the micro mouse. Also, the theme is changed every year so the team has to come up with completely different approach to solving the challenges every year. This year's team looked like they wouldn't fare too well this year but we were happy to see that they did much better than expected.

  • @RyanSalm
    @RyanSalm 10 місяців тому +291

    This videos was absolutely stunning. You took a sport nobody knew about and turned it into an amazing video. I also wouldn’t of understood a thing without those visuals. Hats off to the team.

    • @satanritual2333
      @satanritual2333 10 місяців тому +1

      My head was bashed in as a baby in the NHS hospital I was born in leavingme withlearned disabilities with government involvement

  • @sgtcarneiro
    @sgtcarneiro 10 місяців тому +195

    I did the micromouse challenge 20y ago on robotics class at university. This was a good trip to memory lane but also amazing to see the current level of all participants! Truly outstanding!

    • @tmi1234567
      @tmi1234567 10 місяців тому +1

      It's a little mind blowing. I still see optimization I is there because the mice are not taking advantage of racing lines as much as they could. It is Incredible what these little robots can do.

    • @Martineski
      @Martineski 10 місяців тому

      @@tmi1234567 wdym by racing lines?

    • @HowDoYouUseSpaceBar
      @HowDoYouUseSpaceBar 10 місяців тому +1

      @@Martineski bit like racing colours (racing red) but for lines

    • @BillAnt
      @BillAnt 10 місяців тому +1

      Looks like the Japanese are dominating this field/challenge.

    • @Appletank8
      @Appletank8 10 місяців тому +10

      @Martineski Racing lines are the theoretical line around the corner that maintains the highest average speed and least amount of time. This is where you hear things like, hitting the apex, where you go from out wide into the inside edge to take the widest turn you can without traveling excess distance.
      These mice seem to be taking mostly straight lines equidistant from the walls to avoid crashing into them, diagonals excepted. To optimize, the mice would need to hug an outside wall, than turn in a bit early to just kiss the inside wall, then barely miss the next outside wall.

  • @braackw
    @braackw 13 днів тому

    @Veritasium I just watched the video, pretty cool, never knew this competition exists. In the video you mentioned the only thing keeping moving vehicles stick into a corner is friction between the road and tyres which is not 100% true 😜. Most grip provided by rubber tyres comes from deformation and adhesion which is why the size of the contact patch is very important and as you know, surface area does not feature in the friction equation ✌️

  • @MalGent
    @MalGent 8 місяців тому +1

    Wow that was a very interesting, unique and whimsical documentary. Thank you. I left this feeling happy

  • @macedindu829
    @macedindu829 10 місяців тому +434

    Absolutely fascinating. It's a real shame this stuff isn't aired on major outlets.

    • @Binaryrunt
      @Binaryrunt 10 місяців тому +15

      They should have an ESPN alternative channel, with all these more special competitions. This, wife carrying, speed lumber jacking, eating competitions, pumpkin throwing, dodgeball.

    • @akaraven66
      @akaraven66 10 місяців тому +7

      @@Binaryrunt So a permanent ESPN Ocho?

    • @EliteBeast
      @EliteBeast 10 місяців тому +8

      UA-cam is a major outlet

    • @averagecucumber
      @averagecucumber 10 місяців тому

      ​@@Binaryrunt can you include tag in there or is it already being broadcasted well enough

    • @ractmo
      @ractmo 10 місяців тому +1

      So many things to air literally

  • @CHRiSTeeNA0717
    @CHRiSTeeNA0717 10 місяців тому +236

    I love how the video is building up the tension of the Japan competition of Utsunomiya trying to beat first place.
    It's just such a treat to watch

    • @nicoliedolpot7213
      @nicoliedolpot7213 10 місяців тому +18

      also Red Comet being named after a famous anime character known for being unusually fast.

    • @vigilantcosmicpenguin8721
      @vigilantcosmicpenguin8721 10 місяців тому +2

      Got me subconsciously rooting for that mouse to win.

    • @samanthaamburgey4128
      @samanthaamburgey4128 10 місяців тому

      @@nicoliedolpot7213 Sieg Zeon!

  • @PtotheMtotheK
    @PtotheMtotheK 7 місяців тому +3

    Impressive and scary how quick and accurate they can move.

  • @bhaskar2686
    @bhaskar2686 7 місяців тому +2

    As an Electronics Engineer, I thoroughly enjoyed this.

  • @tank19768
    @tank19768 10 місяців тому +87

    I did this as part of my electronics university course and it was a lot of fun! Didn't end up with anything groundbreaking, but it's great to go through every stage of design and prototyping and create something that actually solves a practical problem, even if it's a small one.

  • @doug2731
    @doug2731 8 місяців тому +317

    The "Strategy" illustrations of how the mouse could reach its goal are fantastic. And all the explanations from the narrator, start to finish, are also excellent and easy to follow. Fascinating video.

  • @lordskysixss
    @lordskysixss 6 місяців тому +1

    I didn't even knew this existed. Thank you for this knowledge.

  • @sheepcommander_
    @sheepcommander_ 2 місяці тому +3

    15:38 WAS ACTUALLY HYPE THO

  • @SkipperFlyer
    @SkipperFlyer 10 місяців тому +87

    I was in the 1990 UNSW Micro-mouse team in Australia. The previous team had just transitioned from stepper motors to DC motors. The high speed DC motors caused frequent wheel slippage making positional calculations difficult. There were a lot of challenging problems to solve but it was really fun. It's good to see so much progress since then.

  • @swbusby
    @swbusby 10 місяців тому +145

    If you combine maze-solving with "battle-bots", the introduction of multiple bots into the maze trying both to reach the end first, and to destroy their opponents would be very interesting!

    • @danosdotnl
      @danosdotnl 10 місяців тому +24

      plot twist, a maze-creating robot entered the chat

    • @naveennamani2
      @naveennamani2 10 місяців тому +14

      @@danosdotnl now we can introduce our hero "maze runner"

    • @pollutedmindmusic
      @pollutedmindmusic 10 місяців тому +5

      the world needs this

    • @recurvestickerdragon
      @recurvestickerdragon 10 місяців тому +4

      Like king of the hill for mice

  • @lvcsslacker
    @lvcsslacker 6 місяців тому +1

    this is way more fascinating than I thought it was gonna be.

  • @FidelC.B.
    @FidelC.B. 5 місяців тому +1

    I had no idea this existed, but here I am, and I think I love it!

  • @quanti5
    @quanti5 10 місяців тому +697

    Those downforce results are amazing. It makes me wonder if they should include an inverted maze category. Imagine a maze with a ceiling and no floor.

    • @teslatrooper
      @teslatrooper 10 місяців тому +233

      Or a 3D maze, a big cube where you have to get to the center

    • @foxgaming76yt24
      @foxgaming76yt24 10 місяців тому +119

      Ngl, an integration of a multi-level and inverted maze would make this so much more complex, yet exhilarating to watch

    • @shelbyseitzinger927
      @shelbyseitzinger927 10 місяців тому +8

      @@teslatrooper ooh put a nice little cmos and gimme a vr :D

    • @Eckendenker
      @Eckendenker 10 місяців тому +8

      @@foxgaming76yt24 Drones will get there

    • @reasonerenlightened2456
      @reasonerenlightened2456 10 місяців тому +9

      But why there are no curves and roundabouts in the maze? Weird and sad.

  • @crunker235
    @crunker235 10 місяців тому +465

    It's amazing to think about how intelligent systems can approach a structure like a maze. While watching this, I started thinking about how I approach maze like structures in games like Skyrim or Doom. I think most gamers probably have a strong intuition for maze navigation, but have no idea of what that strategy is in logical terms.

    • @Legendendear
      @Legendendear 10 місяців тому +36

      To sum it up:
      If you go to the finish line before you know the ENTIRE maze, you are disqualified

    • @acemad1
      @acemad1 10 місяців тому +4

      It feels like there’s only 1 equation and about 4-5 “if…then” procedures at most. The rest is controlled by a gyroscope automatically.

    • @tomsterbg8130
      @tomsterbg8130 10 місяців тому +10

      Best maze tip almost everyone who solves mazes knows, stick to the right wall unless you loop yourself. Some mazes do that and I hate them. It's very nasty how some of them are so complicated and always just loop after you explore such a deep branch that you have to return because it was one way.

    • @BillAnt
      @BillAnt 10 місяців тому +3

      It's human intuition, machines are and possibly will forever have problems with.

    • @AlanTheBeast100
      @AlanTheBeast100 10 місяців тому +4

      No AI here. These are hard coded solutions. Those solutions evolved on wet computers.

  • @rahuldhargalkar
    @rahuldhargalkar 8 місяців тому +19

    As a biologist, I see evolution acting on these machines :) So cool as I never thought I'll be soo intrigued by mechanics, robotics, programming, etc altogether 😅✌️ And the entire credit goes to Veritasium! You remind me my love for science.

    • @rahuldhargalkar
      @rahuldhargalkar 8 місяців тому

      Talking about evolution, I would love if Derek makes a video on evolution, what modern synthesis means and the common misconceptions.

    • @jeancasevenrl
      @jeancasevenrl 7 місяців тому +2

      All these systems stuff were inspired by biologists, so your interest and passion about these topics is natural ♥✌

  • @Alirezarz62
    @Alirezarz62 20 днів тому

    Wow as someone who studies software engineering and has Ai courses this semester I find these extremely fascinating

  • @BlameItOnGreg
    @BlameItOnGreg 10 місяців тому +314

    A submarine version would be really interesting and get even more fluid dynamics involved in the problem.

    • @asandax6
      @asandax6 10 місяців тому +46

      Submarine would also be 3D maize rather than 2D

    • @Doctor_Yuri
      @Doctor_Yuri 10 місяців тому +39

      They already do this. Its called RoboSub competitions

    • @SamirPatnaik
      @SamirPatnaik 10 місяців тому

      great!

    • @vigilantcosmicpenguin8721
      @vigilantcosmicpenguin8721 10 місяців тому +3

      @@asandax6 What if there was a 3D version that required flying? That'd be a challenge.

    • @ayuballena8217
      @ayuballena8217 10 місяців тому +3

      @@Doctor_Yuri but that’s not a maze competition

  • @ev.c6
    @ev.c6 9 місяців тому +749

    As a computer scientist strongly interested in robotics, it always amazes me the different levels of optimization these teams employ in their robots. Just amazing.

    • @Dankalank
      @Dankalank 9 місяців тому +11

      The fruits of healthy competition and sportsmanship!

    • @annoy4nce648
      @annoy4nce648 8 місяців тому +12

      if there's one thing I've learned in my years on the internet, it's to never underestimate the lengths people will go to to win a niche competition over something largely unimportant to almost everyone else in the world. Given adequate time for the competition to grow fierce, of course.

    • @tanzkatzen
      @tanzkatzen 8 місяців тому

      I'm wondering where is the solving part? Does it send out a pulse to determine the path? To solve a maze one would have to explore it...

    • @gblargg
      @gblargg 8 місяців тому +6

      @@tanzkatzen Yes, the are allowed to let it explore the maze a few times before the timed trial: 4:25

    • @uhjeff3651
      @uhjeff3651 8 місяців тому

      Yeah. But I hate the fact that they are so racist. Only Asians and white people. They clearly need more diversity. Then it will be amazing

  • @theghettoracle9346
    @theghettoracle9346 15 днів тому

    I love it when I stumble upon this part of UA-cam where I didn't know such a thing was even a thing and glad I discovered this interesting subculture.

  • @JohnSmith-kd6ip
    @JohnSmith-kd6ip 6 місяців тому +8

    The first 6 minutes I wondered how they are so fast. Thanks for clarifying that they get a study run and a few test runs before.

  • @ClearComplexity
    @ClearComplexity 10 місяців тому +486

    I wish competitions like this were big in the US as an educational circuit with different divisions for middle school, high school, and college. There isn't really the massive hurdle of cost and equipment required next to most other competitive events/sports, but there's room to learn so much about all the different disciplines involved. I've helped teach some basic programming and embedded systems lessons at my old rural high school when a teacher of mine asked me to come in for her class, but she was the last teacher left that would even think about interesting academic adventures for the students. A cool result of those lessons was that she went on to really get into robotics and the next school she went actually allowed a robotics club, and they competed in all kinds of stuff at a national level.

    • @bwgaming-lq4gd
      @bwgaming-lq4gd 10 місяців тому +1

      That's so cool

    • @vipersbladeify
      @vipersbladeify 10 місяців тому +19

      This would be perfect for STEM highschool. Cheap and easy entry with a huge ceiling to grow and learn into

    • @digimaks
      @digimaks 10 місяців тому

      Unfortunately in US schools they worry more about tolerance and inclusivity, instead of education and competition...

    • @stuchris
      @stuchris 9 місяців тому +34

      Have a look into FIRST robotics competitions! theres multiple different tiers for elementary, middleschool, and highschool with nearly a hundred thousand various teams in the US alone, and hundreds more across the entire world! I took part in highschool myself and its exactly what you're wanting here!

    • @aidanleenstra1605
      @aidanleenstra1605 9 місяців тому +3

      I mourn not having this in highschool.
      It's the sort of thing with an insane breadth of learning potential, coding, robotics, engineering, physics, etc.
      But most importantly it is interesting, competitive, collaborative and iterative.
      Competition and technological advancement will inherently drive kids to learn, teach, collaborate and improve.