This will be the fifth year of this simulation-based challenge which is designed to stimulate research in robotics dealing with problems related to mixed-palletizing and intra-factory package delivery and logistics.

This year’s activities will include two challenges.

Mixed Palletizing Challenge. This challenge is designed to explore algorithms and techniques to address the three dimensional cutting stock problem, a variant of the combinatorial non-deterministic polynomial-time hard (NP-hard) knapsack problem. Teams will create and evaluate pallet optimal packing plans using XML schemas, a Pallet Viewer application and the USARSim simulation framework.

Mobility & Task Completion Challenge. The events of this challenge are designed to address the need for one or more factory robots to operate in unstructured environments amongst dynamic obstacles. Teams will use the USARSim simulation framework to deliver completed pallets throughout a simulated warehouse environment.

Details are available on http://www.vma-competition.com/.