[ros-users] [Discourse.ros.org] [General] ARIAC 2019 Registration Opening Soon!

[Sloretz via Discourse.ros.org]

We are proud to announce that registration is open for the third Agile Robotics for Industrial Automation Competition (ARIAC). If interested, please register [here](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSePmQ5arFDi8Ko8gysd1YlFD8jJIruCOp3WOI_jsEwoGOTEQg/viewform).

Make sure you're ready for this year because there is only one qualifier. All the important dates can be found below.

Registration: Until **April 12, 2019**

Qualifer:
 * Accepting submissions: **April 1 - 12, 2019**
 * Run submissions and determine qualified teams: **April 15-19, 2019**

Finals:
 * Accept submissions: **May 6 - 10, 2019**
 * Official competition runs and judging: **May 13 - 17, 2019**

If you would like to get started early, a prerelease of the Gazebo environment is available for Ubuntu Bionic (18.04). 
See [this tutorial](https://bitbucket.org/osrf/ariac/wiki/2019/tutorials/installation) for installation instructions. Please report bugs in the prerelease and documentation [here](https://bitbucket.org/osrf/ariac/issues?status=new&status=open). A feature complete release of the competition environment and automated evaluation code is expected mid-march.

If this is your first time hearing about ARIAC check out the info below.
> 
> ARIAC is a simulation-based competition designed to promote agility in industrial robot systems by utilizing the latest advances in artificial intelligence and robot planning. The goal is to enable industrial robots on the shop floors to be more productive, more autonomous, and more responsive to the needs of shop floor workers. Because the competition will be held virtually, there is no need to travel to compete. The competition will use the Gazebo simulation tool. The competition this year will be run using Ubuntu Bionic, ROS Melodic, and Gazebo version 9.
> 
> While autonomously completing tasks, teams will be presented with various agility challenges based on input from industry representatives. In years past, these challenges included failing suction grippers, notification of faulty parts, and reception of high-priority orders that would prompt teams to decide whether or not to reuse existing in-progress orders. ARIAC 2019 will include these challenges along with others.
> 
> This year's winners will be determined through automated metrics as well as a panel of three judges comprised of representatives from different organizations.  Like last year, ARIAC 2019 will be a prize competition, with first place receiving $10K, second place receiving $5K and third place receiving $2.5K. There will also be travel support for a representative from the winning teams to present at an upcoming workshop.

* Registration: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSePmQ5arFDi8Ko8gysd1YlFD8jJIruCOp3WOI_jsEwoGOTEQg/viewform
* Main NIST ARIAC Website (General information): https://www.nist.gov/ariac
* Competition rules: https://challenge.gov/a/buzz/challenge/999/ideas/top
* Software documentation: https://bitbucket.org/osrf/ariac/wiki/2019/Home.md
* Support Email: ariac at nist.gov
* Forum for discussion: https://discourse.ros.org/c/ariac-users





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