Hi,
I’m doing the course project right now and I’m wondering how closely I have to follow the tutorial. For example, I am using a force vector when colliding, showing me the direction instead of “left” “right” “front” etc.
also for the ‘record_odom_action’ I would have used [geometry_msgs/Point], as that includes enough information.
For a correct evaluation of my finished project, how much has to be the same to the tutorial?
-same packages?
-same service, topic, message, action names ?
And a general question:
how is the contest evaluated? Specific rules would be nice. I’m guessing you are not allowed to just jump out. I know that we are not allowed to use closed loops, however by tweaking initial values, a run can probably be made very quickly if the robot spawns with the same rotation every time. Is there a max speed or collision force we are allowed to use?
I apologize for the numerous questions 
Hi @simon.steinmann91,
The main thing is to focus on achieving the objective of the project without using shortcuts such as jumping out and closed loops. You should not assume that the robot will spawn with the same rotation/location every time.
You can change anything else, but I’d suggest you try out the hints given as well as use your own ideas and see which one is better in practice. If you do please let us know how it goes 
.
Can we assume that the actual course will be the same as in the wall configurations. I know we cannot assume the robot will start in the same place in the maze but can we assume it is the same maze everytime or do we need to program this to be in any maze that could be created?
@bwcowboy Please assume that you don’t know the course of the maze. If you are trying to write your code to fit a certain maze, I think that will be “hard-coding” or “close-looping”.
If you were buying it, I think you would prefer a system that will get any robot out of any maze, wouldn’t you?