The 18th Chinese Graduate Electronic Design Contest - SOPHGO Cup

The China Graduate Electronic Design Competition, guided by the Department of Degree Management and Graduate Education of the Ministry of Education, jointly organized by the China Association for Science and Technology Youth Science and Technology Center and the China Electronics Society, is one of the thematic events under the 'China Graduate Innovation Practice Series Contest.' It is a team-based electronic design innovation and creative practice activity for graduate students nationwide, actively participated in by universities and research institutes across the country. This competition, known as the 'Research Electronic Competition,' is oriented toward industry demands and has become a mainstream event that fosters innovation and entrepreneurship consciousness among graduate students in electronic-related disciplines, enhances teamwork, boosts practical abilities, and promotes the comprehensive growth of young innovative entrepreneurs.

The competition is characterized by its high standard, deep participation, high comprehensive quality requirements, and close integration with the industry. It consists of two major parts: technical competitions and a special section for business proposals, offering both self-proposed and corporate-themed categories. AlgoTech has joined through the corporate-themed category and established special awards, focusing on the design of edge computing systems based on TPU processors. AlgoTech also provides participating contestants with powerful development boards, drones, deep learning cars, and other hardware resources.

SOPHGO has developed a comprehensive computational product matrix covering the entire spectrum of "cloud-edge-device" scenarios, providing computational products and holistic solutions for applications such as urban intelligence, smart computing centers, intelligent security, smart transportation, industrial inspection, smart terminals, among others. Compared to contemporaneous processors and graphics, the TPU delivers a performance boost of 15-30 times, particularly excelling in edge scenarios. The competition primarily assesses contestants' abilities to innovate using SOPHGO's TPU platform for AI applications, emphasizing machine vision, detection, and recognition in settings like robotics and drones.

Participants are tasked with leveraging the TPU to implement new applications and algorithms in various domains, including but not limited to industrial safety, general parks, smart food safety, municipal management, smart power, public safety, intelligent transportation, smart coal mines, robotics, drones, machine vision, etc. They are required to construct an entire edge computing system and realize the corresponding functionalities.

• Hardware Environment

The development board based on BM1684 is the foundation. It's crucial to leverage the TPU's AI acceleration features, showcasing its unique advantages and achieving the optimal configuration in terms of cost and performance based on scene requirements. Various devices like screens, keyboards, mice, cameras, headphones, VR equipment, etc., can be extended, creating a comprehensive edge computing workstation. Alternatively, it can be embedded into smart cars and drones for mobile terminal edge computing. Additionally, the addition of processors like FPGA as TPU's heterogeneous accelerators can accomplish more functionalities.

• Software Environment

SophonSDK is SOPHGO's custom deep learning SDK tailored for its proprietary AI processor. It covers functionalities required during the neural network inference phase, such as model optimization and efficient runtime support, offering an easy-to-use, efficient full-stack solution for deep learning application development and deployment. Participants can access relevant SDK materials for learning and use:

1. Documentation Center: https://developer.sophgo.com/site/index/material/30/all.html
2. Video Tutorials: https://developer.sophgo.com/site/index/course/all/all.html
3. Development Guide: https://sophgo-doc.gitbook.io/sophonsdk3

• Registration & Teaming (2023.04.10-2023.06.20)

Please log in to the official website of the China Graduate Innovation Practice Series Contest to register and sign up before the deadline for registration, and complete the payment and submission of works.

• Preliminary Stage (July 2023)
• Final Stage (August 2023)

The National Finals will be held in mid-August.

1. Postgraduate students (including recent graduates) from mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, and international universities can participate. Senior undergraduates eligible for postgraduate studies (with school proof) can also join.
2. Registration is team-based; individual entries are not accepted.
3. The competition has two parts: Technical Challenges and a Business Proposal segment. They are separate in team formation, registration, evaluation, and rewards. The Technical Challenges have corporate-sponsored and open-topic tracks.
4. Each team includes mentors, a leader, and members. Teams can have 1-2 mentors, 1 leader, and 1-2 members per competition segment. Each mentor can guide up to two teams, and members can join only one team.
5. Team members must substantially contribute to the project; ghostwriting or honorary credits are not allowed. Violators will be permanently disqualified, with units notified for mutual monitoring.
6. The team leader arranges mentor and member order based on contributions. Award certificates follow this order without changes.
7. Team members must be official postgraduates or have confirmed admission. Under special circumstances in graduate units, one undergrad may join with prior approval from the organizing committee.
8. Teams, after unit approval, register, pay fees, and submit works on the competition's official website.
9. Participating units appoint a Graduate Electronic Design Competition group or liaison for team qualification and information management.
10. Registration fees, usually 500 RMB per team, are collected by the organizers or China Electronics Society Secretariat, with adjustments possible by regional divisions under official notice.
11. During technical competition registration, teams describe project innovations, provide three key innovation keywords, and detail member roles.
12. Before the deadline, teams can edit member and project details. After the deadline, no changes are allowed. In the finals, teams can refine their work but not change content or members. Exceptional changes require committee approval; unauthorized changes may disqualify teams.