All Contest Winners Announced!

Altair Global Digital Twin Contest for Students 

Explore the limitless possibilities of model-based development

 The Challenge

Balancing a ball on a table in a desired position is one of the most important and classical problems of control theory.

Imagine balancing a ball on a tray yourself, its not easy, right? Many of us may remember guiding a ball through a maze in the popular Labyrinth and Ball-in-a-maze puzzles and the challenge it presents, Imagine balancing a ball and manipulating the tray so that the ball traces the outline of an image like a university logo, seems impossible? You might then imagine an intelligent machine with servo motors and control systems may be able to do this, and you will be right! there is such a machine and you can program it in minutes to trace any image of your choice with a ball on a table! Welcome to the unique experience of a digital twin mechatronics simulation contest, which is a fun and quick way to learn model-based controller design concepts with a 3D + 1D system co-simulation engine, exciting prizes for the students who can send us the control model and a rendering of the animation... full training and necessary resources will be provided...

We invite you to join one of the regional contests! Please choose the one your university is located in. Regional winners have a further chance to win the global prize*!

*All prizes will be provided as a voucher redeemable at online sites like Amazon.

 

First Prize: US $1000 goes to Isaque Silva, Nathan Silva and Petrus Fiore (Universidade Federal de Itajubá, Brazil)

Most Creative Presentation: US $500 goes to Felipe Barreto (Universidad de la Sabana, Colombia)

First Prize: 800 € goes to Mathilde Theunissen, Vincent Morin and Quentin Levent (Polytech Sorbonne, France)

Most Creative Presentation: 400 € goes to Sara Pacheco Cano, Cristina Fernández and Marcos Rodriguez (Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Spain)

First Prize: US $1000 goes to Yash Thool and Piyush Deshmukh (College of Engineering Pune, India)

Most Creative Presentation: US $500 goes to Jinyoung Kil, JaeHeung Park, Hyeon Ah Shin and Changmin Lee (Kyung Hee University, South Korea)

Due to a large number of excellent submissions we are awarding 4 Global Special Prizes of US $200 / 160 € as below:

Aboubakar-Sedick Ibrahim (Université de Haute Alsace, France)

András Mózer and Jakab Molnár (Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Hungary)

Antoine Bailly and Marc Haraoui (Polytech Sorbonne, France)

Sania Shujaat, Daud Abdullah Khan and Abdul Muizz Jamal (National University of Sciences and Technology, Pakistan)

 

Overall Global Winner Prize: US $1000 / 800 € goes to Mathilde Theunissen, Vincent Morin and Quentin Levent (Polytech Sorbonne, France)

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Contest Registration

Step 1: Register for the contest

  • Join the Altair Community (if not a member already) and then RSVP the contest invite(click here) by choosing Respond > Attend
  • Comment on the contest invite and write a quick post introducing yourself and what excites you about participating in this contest. (you can write in your own language)
  • If you are participating as a team, each team member must do the above.

Any questions or concerns regarding the contest can be asked in the competitions forum here and will be answered promptly.

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Step 2: Download the free Altair student edition 2021 in case not installed already

Please choose "Altair Contest" in the "How did you hear about the student edition?" field and kindly fill in "Digital Twin Contest" in the Note: field

If you have trouble viewing or filling the form below, please click here to fill the form in another window.

 
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Problem Statement

Step 3: Understand the contest problem and download the model files needed

Note that the problem and solution is an entirely virtual process (digital twin) no hardware is needed.

The problem usually takes less than 4 days for most students to solve.

Task A : Extract coordinates and process it for your chosen path (image) using Altair Compose

Description:

  • Choose a path (an image border) that the ball will trace,
  • Next you need to convert the path (image) to coordinate data 
  • Next the coordinate data should be smoothed, filtered and processed in Altair Compose (Mandatory step) to output a processed excel file that can be fed into the Activate model (in the next step) 

Software to be used: Altair Embed (optional) Altair Compose (Mandatory)

Evaluation criteria: You will be evaluated by the complexity of the Path  / image the ball will trace, and the generation of the coordinate data excel file using Altair Compose, and the smoothness of the ball movement.

See the training materials section for the example model files

Task B : Simulation with Altair Activate and MotionSolve

Description: Input the coordinate excel file into the Activate model and simulate the ball movement and generate the animation file, you can also modify the controller diagram if the current controller diagram is not apt for your image.

Software to be used: Altair Activate

Evaluation criteria: Evaluation is done based on the correctness of your simulation, and the animation H3D file

See the training materials section below for the example model files

Task C : Photorealistic rendering of the animation of the ball movement

Description: Photorealistic renderings are extremely powerful while presenting your concepts. In this part of the competition, you will create a photorealistic rendering of the animation of the ball movement.

Software to be used: Altair Inspire Studio

Evaluation criteria: Judges will evaluate the aesthetic quality of the rendered image you will be creating.

See the training materials section below for the example model files

Task D : Optional - Creative Presentation

Description: Make a video showing the entire process of your contest solution, capture yourself talking about digital twins and how the technology excites you!

Evaluation criteria: Judges will evaluate your presentations skills, explanation of the process and the overall attractiveness and attention grabbing nature of the video you will be creating.

 

 

 

 

 

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Training Material

Step 4: Learn how to use the software and solve the problem

Here you will find an example of the ball tracing the Altair Logo, that goes through all the tasks of the problem, and you will also find model files that can be modified for your chosen image easily.

Example for Task A : Extract coordinates and process it for your chosen path (image) using Altair Compose

Extracting coordinates of an Image using Altair Embed - The coordinates of an image needs to be extracted first, before it is processed in Altair Compose, to extract the coordinates Altair Embed can be used as shown in this example, (note Altair Embed diagram need not be submitted and any other tool can be used to extract coordinates as well.) 

 

 

 

Click Here for the Model Files for Extracting Coordinates of Altair Logo with Embed (version 22_03_2021)

(follow the process in the video to the left to specify the addon before running the file)

 

Process the coordinate data for your chosen path (image) using Altair Compose

 

Example for Task B : Simulation and Animation of the Ball Tracing with Altair Activate and MotionSolve

 

 

 

Click Here for the Model Files for Task B example with Altair Logo generate animation in Altair Activate

(Make sure paths are set in Activate for Cosimulation as explained Here)

 

Training material for Task C : Photorealistic rendering of the animation of the ball movement

 

Additional Related Training Material

Video on 3D Rendering of a Scooter Model after its Motion Analysis

Webinar explaining the contest problem, solution etc held on 24/04/21

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Judging Criteria

An international team of Altair experts will evaluate submitted Entries. Scoring is based on the criteria specified below

a)  Innovation, Creativity (20)

b)  Filter and processing of Image coordinates and complexity of image Path (20)

c)  Activate Diagram Model and the animation of the ball tracing the same image from b) (30)

d)  Extra points for adapting the controller setup or parameter for a smoother or faster ball motion more for complex paths. (10)

e)  Inspire Studio Rendering Quality of the animation from c) (30)

f)  Extra Credt: A five (5) minute (maximum) video explaining or demonstrating the work that was done, which will be awarded separately. (Regional/Zonal Best Video -- Most Creative Presentation Prize)

The Judges will select between 2 and 11 (Entrants) Entries (the “Selected Entrants”) in each region.

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Contest Solution Files Upload

Step 5: Upload your solution files here by choosing the region your university is in

Please include your student edition license file you received by email (altair_lic.dat) to identify your entry, along with your model files and video files.

Entries must consist of the following:
a) The Student Edition Software License file that was applied for and received by the Entrant to participate in this Contest. Note: The Student Edition Software License must not have been expired on the day that the Entry is submitted.
b) Correct CSV File of the coordinates of the path traced by the ball (processed by Altair Compose).
c) The Altair Compose file with the code used for processing and the Altair Activate model file,
d) The solved H3D file of the animation, and the Altair Inspire Studio Rendered Video file
e) Extra Credit: A five (5) minute (maximum) video explaining or demonstrating the work that was done

Note: It is Mandatory to RSVP the contest invite(click here) by choosing Respond > Attend Before you upload.

Americas
Clicking on the checkbox constitutes the Entrant’s full and unconditional agreement to and acceptance of these Contest Rules, Terms and Conditions.
EMEA
  Clicking on the checkbox constitutes the Entrant’s full and unconditional agreement to and acceptance of these Contest Rules, Terms and Conditions.  
APAC
  Clicking on the checkbox constitutes the Entrant’s full and unconditional agreement to and acceptance of these Contest Rules, Terms and Conditions.    

Any questions or concerns regarding the contest can be asked here and will be answered promptly.

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