EMO 2021 HUAWEI Logistics Competition

Organized by furlogistics - Current server time: Jan. 7, 2025, 2:35 a.m. UTC
Reward $15,000

First phase

Development
Nov. 9, 2020, midnight UTC

End

Competition Ends
March 1, 2021, 11:59 p.m. UTC

 

EMO 2021 HUAWEI Logistics Competition

Introduction

Vehicle Routing and Bin Packing are classical multi-objective combinatorial optimization (MOCO) problems. Much research has been conducted on artificial test data. To promote their real-world application, we organize the competition at the 11th International Conference on Evolutionary Multi-Criterion Optimization (EMO 2021). All the test instances were generated from real business scenarios in Huawei Technologies Ltd.

The winners will be awarded cash prizes and trophies, as well as invited to give spot-light talks at EMO 2021. For more information, please visit official website.

Tracks and Criteria

There are two tracks. Track 1 is mainly for algorithm design. Both the number of solution quality evaluations and the running time is given and fixed. Track 2 is for both algorithm design and engineering implementation. Only the running time is fixed.

A test dataset consisting of 200 test instances, a tool for checking the results' correctness, a visualization tool will be provided to participants. A basic bin packing algorithm package will also be available so that the participants can get started easily.

The code of the contesting algorithm is required to be submitted to the competition platform for evaluation on a non-public dataset composed of another 50 test instances.

Participants' registration information and codes submitted to this competition will be permanently deleted six months after this competition. The winners' codes and documentation will always be kept on the competition website.

The winners are required to register for EMO 2021 at their own expense and give spot-light talks at the conference.

Simulator

An offline tool is provided for visualizing 3-D loading results. Using this tool, participants can intuitively observe the vehicle loading status with respect to each solution.

Input: JSON format algorithm results. Output: HTML format results file.

The offline 3-D loading visualization tool can be download here. Moreover, participants can use the online 3-D loading visualization tool via official website.

Result Checking

An offline result checking tool is provided. It can be used to check whether the obtained solution is feasible (all constraints are satisfied). Participants must ensure that their results pass the constraint checking.

Input: JSON format algorithm results. Output: TXT format results file.

The offline result checking tool can be download here.

Competition Platform

Participants should submit their codes to the competition platform. The submitted codes will be evaluated on the non-public dataset. Participants' rankings will be published on the official website and updated in time.

Each team can submit up to 3 times for each track. The platform supports the programming languages: Python/Java/C/C++/Matlab.

Important update(December 14, 2020): For each track, each team has two additional opportunities for test submission, which will not be counted in the final ranking. And will expire after January 31, 2021.

Evaluation

Refer to the evaluation page.

Registration & Submission

Each participant must join one and only one team. The maximum number of participants in each team is up to 3. Each team member must be a single individual operating a separate CodaLab account.

Each team can have an instructor. The instructor's name and affiliation should be noted in the team description.

Your submission should include the algorithm codes and the run script. See more details in starter-kit README.md.

Competition Committee

Qingfu Zhang, City University of Hong Kong, (qingfu.zhang@cityu.edu.hk);

Zhenkun Wang, Southern University of Science and Technology, (wangzk3@sustech.edu.cn);

Mingxuan Yuan, Huawei Noah's Ark Lab, (Yuan.Mingxuan@huawei.com);

Xialiang Tong, Huawei Noah's Ark Lab, (tongxialiang@huawei.com);

Zihan Zhang, Huawei Noah's Ark Lab, (zhangzihan2@huawei.com).

Contact Us

For any questions, do not hesitate to raise them in the forums or QQ group (670889011) or email to furlogistics@huawei.com.

 

Evaluation Principles

The submitted algorithm package will be evaluated on the non-public dataset composed of another 50 business orders. The evaluation criteria for the two tracks are different.

For track 1:

  • The total running time over 50 test instances (i.e., orders) cannot exceed 400 minutes;
  • The number of solution quality evaluations (i.e., the number of calls to the 3-D bin packing algorithm package) cannot exceed 2000 times for each instance.

For track 2:

  • The total running time over 50 test instances (i.e., orders) cannot exceed 150 minutes.

Environment

The algorithm package submitted by participants will run on the Linux server:

OS CPU Memory
Ubuntu 18.04.4 LTS Intel(R) Xeon(R) Platinum 8280 CPU @ 2.70GHz 1T

 

 

For a fair comparison, the implemented algorithm must be single-threaded or single-process (only one core can be used for each algorithm).

Evaluation Metric

Important Notes

[1] The evaluation will be run within Huawei's internal servers, so the participants couldn't get the results automatically from the CodaLab's Results page, it will be updated in time on the official website.

 

Terms and Legal Considerations

1. The competition is public, but the competition committee may elect to disallow participation according to its own considerations.

2. The competition committee reserves the right to disqualify any entrant from the competition if, in the competition committee's sole discretion, it reasonably believes that the entrant has attempted to undermine the legitimate operation of the competition through cheating, deception, or other unfair playing practices.

3. Submissions are void if they are in whole or part illegible, incomplete, damaged, altered, counterfeit, obtained through fraudulent means, or late. The competition committee reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to disqualify any entrant who makes a submission that does not adhere to all requirements.

4. Officers, directors, employees, and advisory board members (and their immediate families and members of the same household) of the competition organizer and their respective affiliates are not eligible to participate in the competition.

5. You agree to use reasonable and suitable measures to prevent persons who have not formally agreed to these rules from gaining access to the software and data provided by the competition organizer. You agree not to transmit, duplicate, publish, redistribute, or otherwise provide or make such software and data available to any party not participating in the competition. You agree to notify the competition organizer immediately upon learning of any possible unauthorized transmission or unauthorized access of such software and data and agree to work with the competition organizer to rectify any unauthorized transmission. You agree that participation in the competition shall not be construed as having or being granted a license (expressly, by implication, or otherwise) under, or any right of ownership in, any of the software and data.

6. By downloading the software and data provided by the competition organizer you agree to the following terms:

    6.1 You will not distribute the software and data.
    6.2 You accept full responsibility for your use of the software and data and shall defend and indemnify the competition organizer, against any claims arising from your use of the software and data.

7. By joining the competition, you affirm and acknowledge that you agree to comply with applicable laws and regulations, and you may not infringe upon any copyrights, intellectual property, or patent of another party for the software you develop in the course of the competition, and will not breach of any applicable laws and regulations related to export control and data privacy and protection.

8. The competition committee reserves the right to verify eligibility and to adjudicate on any dispute at any time. If you provide any false information relating to the competition concerning your identity, residency, mailing address, telephone number, e-mail address, right of ownership, or information required for entering the competition, you may be immediately disqualified from the competition.

9. Participants' registration information and codes which submitted to the organizer will be kept for 6 months after the competition (after 6 months, they will be permanently deleted), in case of possible dissents. The winner's codes and documentation will be kept on the competition website starting after the competition.

10. Prizes are subject to the competition committee's review and verification of the entrant's eligibility and compliance with these rules as well as the compliance of the winning submissions with the submission requirements.

11. Competition prizes do not include tax payment. Any potential winner is solely responsible for all applicable taxes related to accepting the prize.

12. Right to cancel, modify, or disqualify. The competition committee reserves the right at its sole discretion to terminate, modify, or suspend the competition.

13. For more information about personal data protection, please refer to the Privacy Policy.

 

 

Competition Rules

1. This competition is supported by the Decision Making and Reasoning Laboratory of Huawei Noah's Ark Lab, which assists the competition's execution and is responsible for the award's disbursement to the competition winners.

2. This competition is public, but the competition committee approves each user's request to participate and may elect to disallow participation according to its own considerations.

3. Users: Each participant must create a CodaLab account to submit their algorithm for the competition. Only one account per user is allowed.

4. If you are entering as a representative of a company, educational institution, or other legal entity, or on behalf of your employer, these rules are binding for you individually and/or for the entity you represent or are an employee of. If you are acting within the scope of your employment as an employee, contractor, or agent of another party, you affirm that such party has full knowledge of your actions and has consented thereof, including your potential receipt of a prize. You further affirm that your actions do not violate your employer's or entity's policies and procedures.

5. Teams: Each participant must join one and only one team. The maximum number of participants in each team is up to 3. Each team member must be a single individual operating a separate CodaLab account. Team formation requests will not be permitted after the date specified on the competition website. Participants who would like to form a team should review the ‘Competition Teams' section on CodaLab's ‘user_teams' Wiki page. The total submissions of all the participants in a team must be less than or equal to the maximum number (i.e., 3) allowed for a team.

6. Team mergers are allowed and can be performed by the team leader. Team merger requests will not be permitted after the "Team mergers deadline" if such a deadline is listed on the competition website. In order to merge, the combined team must have a total submission count less than or equal to the maximum (i.e., 3) allowed for a single team. The organizers don't provide any assistance regarding team mergers.

7. External data: You may use a new dataset other than the software and data provided by the competition organizer to develop and test your algorithm and submissions.

8. Competition Duration: Oct. 30, 2020 ~ Mar. 01, 2021.

9. Total Prize Amount (USD): $15,000

10. Prize Allocation:

    Track 1:
    • Gold Prize: $5,000
    • Silver Prize: $3,000
    • Bronze Prize: $2,000
    Track 2:
    • Best Prize: $5,000

11. Upon being awarded a prize:

    11.1. The prize winner must agree to submitting and delivering a technical presentation of their solution at the EMO 2021 conference. ​
    11.2. The prize winner must deliver to the competition organizer the software and data created for the purpose of the competition and used to generate the winning submission and associated documentation written in English. The delivered software and data must be capable of regenerating the winning submission and contain a description of the resources required to build and run the regenerated submission successfully.​
    11.3. The prize winner will sign and return all prize acceptance documents requested by the competition organizer.

12. If a team wins a monetary prize, the competition organizer will allocate the prize money in even shares between team members unless the team members unanimously contact the competition organizer to request an alternative prize distribution within three business days submission deadline.

Development

Start: Nov. 9, 2020, midnight

Description: Development phase: the Competition Platform does not accept any submission, the participants should design the algorithm and test it offline on their own server.

Evaluation

Start: Dec. 1, 2020, midnight

Description: Evaluation phase: the Competition Platform is open, the participants could submit their algorithm to the Competition Platform. And the rankings will be updated on the competition website in time.

Competition Ends

March 1, 2021, 11:59 p.m.

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