The world’s first “Ski Robot Challenge” will be held at Welli Hilli Park in Doonnae, PyeongChang–gun, Gangwon Province on February 11th and 12th during the PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games (February 9 to February 25, 2018).

The competitive exhibition will be held with humanoid robots taking part in skiing, the emblematic sporting event of the winter Olympics to promote the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics Games and to raise interest in robots. The robotics challenge is designed to encourage the development of design, intelligence, and control in robotic technology.

The competition is sponsored by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and hosted by the Korea Institute for Robot Industry Advancement (KIRIA). Selected by the Korea Evaluation Institute of Industrial Technology, 8 teams from Hanyang University, Myongji University, Kookmin University, Kyungpook University, KAIST, Seoul National University of Science and Technology, Korea Institute of Robot and Convergence and Mini Robot Inc. will participate in the tasks challenges. Korean and foreign teams are also expected to participate in the general competitions.

The robots participating in the challenge should be bipedal humanoid and fitted with skis, standing approximately 0.5m to 1.5m tall, capable of autonomous walking, and equipped with image processing and sensors. The power source used by the robot should be equipped with an independent power source (battery) that uses only electricity. In addition, the robot must be intelligent, capable of operating independently, as it can not receive any outside commands during the competition other than the start signal.

The competition evaluation procedure allows three tries per team, with the highest score (mission score + record score) as the final score. The total mission score is capped at 75 points; 15 points are awarded each time it passes through the gates.
The record score is based on the time it leaves the starting gate to when it passes through the finish gate. Of a total record score of 25, points will be awarded based on the speed of the participating teams. The total score is 100 points.

The evaluation criteria for the Ski Robot Competitive Exhibition will be based on the rules of the Giant Slalom event, a discipline of alpine skiing, but will be modified to some extent for the robots. To this end, a special committee on ski robots will be formed to oversee the tournament evaluation mission and regulations.

Before proceeding with the test bed, a draft of the mission and regulations, and performance will be drawn up to reflect the problems and difficulties encountered during the performance tests.

The proposed schedule is as follows: domestic and foreign applications to enter the contest will be accepted until the end of September. From October to December 7 or 8, indoor performance tests will be carried out to iron out any mechanical problems; from December to January of next year, 2 or 3 outdoor performance tests will take place at the competition ski site; actual competitions will take place in February.

Anticipation is high as preparations continue to find the champion of the world's first Ski Robot Challenge.