Challenge Details

• Team will design a drone line follower algorithm. The drone must take off, follow an underlying, red-colored path, and softly land on the circular marker located at the end of the track. 

• Teams will use their modeling skills to refine a Simulink model. 

• The models submitted by the team will be tested on unknown tracks. Your team can use the Track Builder app to create and test different tracks: 

  • https://www.mathworks.com/help/supportpkg/parrot/ug/track-builder-app.html

Learning Path 

To get started with the basics to compete in the challenge, use the following steps: 

• Watch the following videos in the specified order: 

  • Introduction to the MathWorks FollowThePath Online Challenge

  • Model Description 

  • Planning Flight States 

  • Creating Arena Tracks 

• Complete MATLAB Onramp, Simulink Onramp, and Stateflow Onramp courses. 

• Fly the drone as per your logic in the 3D simulation world and have a lot of fun!  

Arena Information 

• The arena is a 4-meter * 4-meter space in all challenge simulations. 

• The arena track is 10 cm in width.  

• The landing circular marker has a diameter of 20 cm.  

• The line follower track consists of connected line segments only and does not have any smooth curves at the connections.  

• The angle between any two track sections can have a value between 10 degrees to 350 degrees. 

• The track can have anywhere between 1 to 10 connected line segments. The initial position of the drone will always be on the start of the line. However, the front of the drone may not always face toward the first line on the track when the simulation begins. 

• The distance from the end of the track to the center of the circle is 25 cm.  

• The background on which the track will be laid may not be a single color and will have texture.

Getting Started with the Challenge

Request software

1. Go to the MathWorks FollowThePath webpage and click on “Request Software.”

2. Fill in the details about your team as requested in the form (the form is to be filled by a team coach).

3. Enter the competition name as ‘MathWorks FollowThePath Challenge’, if not already autofilled.  

4. Submit the form. 

5. MathWorks will respond within 72 business hours. If your request is approved, you will receive instructions for downloading the software and distributing it to your team members.

Access the software 

You have two options to access the getting started model- you can either install the tools on the machine or you can access the model from your browser. 

• Once you receive the license, install MATLAB R2023b 

• You are recommended to install the following tools. You may need other toolboxes available from to install using the license as the need is felt by your team while working on the problem statement: 

  • MATLAB, Simulink, Aerospace Toolbox, Aerospace Blockset, Control System Toolbox, Signal Processing Toolbox, Simulink 3D Animation, Simulink Coder, Embedded Coder, Optimization Toolbox, Simulink Control Design, Stateflow 

• Install the Simulink Support Package for Parrot Minidrones from Add-Ons. Use the following link for instructions: https://www.mathworks.com/help/supportpkg/parrot/ug/install-support-for-parrot-minidrone.html  

• Once the Hardware Support Package is installed, you can type the following in the MATLAB Command Window: 

  • >> openExample('parrot/ColorDetectionLandingOfParrotMinidroneExample'); (for MATLAB R2023b)

  • >> parrotMinidroneCompetitionStart (only for MATLAB R2023a or earlier)

• This will start the competition specific Simulink Project where the Minidrone constantly moves right until it detects a Blue Box underneath it. You can test the model first in Simulations. I would suggest going through the Quick-Starters before hardware deployment.

Option 2: Access from browser 

• Once you receive the license, associate your MATLAB account with the license. You can check the ‘Link a License to Your Account’ section on the following webpage:

  • https://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/matlab_env/manage-your-licenses.html 

• Once the linking is complete, Start using Simulink Online:

  • https://www.mathworks.com/products/simulink-online.html  

• After the MATLAB Window is open in your browser, you can type the following in the MATLAB Command Window: 

  • >> openExample('parrot/ColorDetectionLandingOfParrotMinidroneExample'); (for MATLAB R2023b)
  • >> parrotMinidroneCompetitionStart (only for MATLAB R2023a or earlier)

• This will start the competition specific Simulink Project where the Minidrone constantly moves right until it detects a Blue Box underneath it. You can test the model first in Simulations. I would suggest going through the Quick-Starters before hardware deployment.

Help and Support

For help and support, participants can reach out to MathWorks at [email protected] with the subject line “Query/ Support – MathWorks FollowThePath Challenge – “   team #   ”).

Minimum Requirements

A submission must meet these minimum requirements in order to be judged.

• Entry is created and produced solely by student team members

• Format: Project Archive package formatted as described in this reference document

Upload Instructions

Note: Beginning with the 2023-24 season, challenge entries must be uploaded by the primary contact for a registered team. This individual should ensure that the submission meets all requirements and criteria before uploading.

1. Click the green Submit an Entry button on the right side of the screen.

2. Fill out the submission form and add an optional description of the entry to the Short Description field.

3. Ensure you are entering the correct team number and letter, with no spaces.

4. Click Save.

5. Click the blue Files /Images button in the upper right of the screen.

6. Drag/drop your Project Archive file into the Upload a File box, then refresh if needed to view file details below the Upload a File box.

7. Edit the Display Name and file information to include your entry title and your team number; for example, "MathWorks Challenge entry, team 007x."

8. Click on Save to record your edits.