About Us
We are a group of volunteers who manage, organize and raise funds to promote and encourage applications of science and engineering, with robot hockey as our prime focus.
MiRoHoT offers a unique opportunity for participants from all age groups and from all over British Columbia and Canada to showcase their talents in robotics and computer engineering. We will have annual and semi-annual events.
Our dream is to have a BIG event coinciding with 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic.
Air hockey playing robots are designed both physically and virtually such that two opposing teams can play fast and interactive games. Within the defined rules, each team submits their own design and interactive environment so they can be judged by our supporting organizations.
History
MiRoHoT is a robotics program that was started as a side project by its founder, SFU Engineering Science Professor Dr. Shahram Payandeh. It is an off-shoot of an earlier project by the name of MIROSOT from more than a decade ago. MiRoHoT stands for "MIcro RObot HOckey Tournament". Its objectives reflect one of the main research interests of its creator: the design and development of tiny robots, which can be controlled and coordinated to accomplish a common objective as a team. These small robots move on an air-hockey table that is monitored through an overhead camera. They are controlled via wireless communication. Each robot has a shooting mechanism which is able to hit a small hockey puck on the table.
Initial MiRoHoT development was based on the 2002 Bachelor of Applied Science thesis of Wayne Chen at Simon Fraser University. His thesis defined and tested various basic design requirements. While MiRoHoT poses fundamental challenges for robotic applications, it's also based on one of the most popular sports in Canada, namely hockey. MiRoHoT is both fun and educational.
Through MiRoHoT, tournaments will be held that include participants with many different levels of education and robotic design experience, culminating in a major event around the time of the Vancouver Winter Olympics in February 2010.