Number of ports in trials?

FandosA · April 29, 2026, 9:18pm

Hello,

I have a couple of questions regarding the trials:

Trials 1 and 2: in the github repository, it’s said: "The only difference between these two trials is the randomness in 1) the pose of the task board, 2) which NIC_RAIL the NIC_CARD gets spawned on, and 3) the translation and orientation offset of the NIC_CARD on that NIC_RAIL". With this information, I understand that only one NIC Card appears in the trial. However, a few lines below it’s said:"While multiple components and NIC cards may be present on the board…". So, what is correct? Only one NIC Card per trial or multiple cards may appear?
Trial 3: here it happens the same. At the beginning of the explanation it’s said: “While multiple components and SC ports may be present on the board…”. But then, a few lines below, the following is specified: “One or both SC ports are mounted on the task board: SC_PORT_0 on SC_RAIL_0 and SC_PORT_1 on SC_RAIL_1”. So, only 2 SC ports can appear as maximum, right? One at each rail. We can have only 1 SC port, or 2 SC Ports. And in the case of 2 SC ports, they will be on different rails. Correct?

jennifer · May 4, 2026, 8:07am

We would love some clarification on that as well! While I think it’s quite clear for Trial 3 (by the part you already quoted from qualification_phase.md) it is indeed more ambiguous for the NIC cards. So far we understood it like there may be multiple NIC cards but the use of the phrasing “… the NIC_CARD gets spawned…” indeed could mean there will also be only one NIC card. That would actually be quite a significant insight into our approach. If anyone from the organizer team (@Yadunund perhaps?) could clarify the phrasing in the documents, that would be fantastic! We’re happy to then submit a PR to make the phrasing less ambigous.

JungSeong · May 7, 2026, 3:22am

+1 for this, our team also appreciate clarification on this.

mpurnyn · May 7, 2026, 4:43am

I think it can be any permutation of ports/cards across zones according to:

github.com/intrinsic-dev/aic

docs/task_board_description.md

main

# AIC Task Board Description

The **AI for Industry Challenge (AIC)** task board is a modular, reconfigurable platform designed to emulate real-world cable management challenges found in high-mix electronics manufacturing, specifically within server and data center infrastructure. This environment replicates the complex task of routing high-density fiber optics and seating transceivers into dense networking hardware.

This task board will serve here as the primary environment for evaluating dexterous manipulation, perception, and motion planning throughout the challenge phases.


## 1. Board Overview

The task board provides a standardized physical interface for the manipulation of **[SFP (Small Form-factor Pluggable)modules, LC (Lucent Connector) fiber optic and SC (Subscriber Connector) fiber optic](https://www.versitron.com/pages/sfp-sc-and-lc-connectors-transceivers-defined-and-analyzed-in-detail)** connectors. It is divided into four distinct zones to separate the assembly targets from the initial component pick locations.

![AIC Task Board](../../media/aic_task_board.png)

## 2. Zone Descriptions

The AIC task board is organized into four functional zones that simulate a complete electronics assembly workflow. Zones 1 and 2 serve as the assembly targets:
* [Zone 1](#zone-1-network-interface-cards-nic) houses the Network Interface Cards (NIC) with SFP ports, representing the server compute tray,
* [Zone 2](#zone-2-sc-optical-ports) mimics an optical patch panel with SC ports.
* [Zones 3](#zone-3--4-pick-locations) and 4 act as the Pick Locations, providing a high-mix supply area where SFP modules and fiber optic plugs are staged on adjustable mounts.

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jennifer · May 7, 2026, 5:45am

Thanks for responding. Hopefully the organisers are able to clarify, it’s a bit ambiguous in the document. The taskboard description is in general, also for the next phase. Not all of it gets used in the qualification stage. On the SC ports, the doc for the qualification phase is quite clear (see original post):

One or both SC ports are mounted on the task board: SC_PORT_0 on SC_RAIL_0 and SC_PORT_1 on SC_RAIL_1

But the number of NIC cards is still not clear..

mpurnyn · May 7, 2026, 2:00pm

I agree it is pretty ambiguous.
How a VLA model could differentiate identical SC ports if they are on the same rail? The task description will have information about the rail number but if there are two sc ports on the same rail then it’s not like an NIC card where it’s all one model. The 0 or 1 would be mapped to a direction which would be based on the original orientation of the cameras, i think?

mpurnyn · May 7, 2026, 3:55pm

at least for this, the sample config file doesn’t seem to have the ability to define multiple sc ports on one rail.

github.com/intrinsic-dev/aic

aic_engine/config/sample_config.yaml

main


      
          sc_rail_0:
            entity_present: False
          sc_rail_1:
            entity_present: True
            entity_name: "sc_mount_1"
            entity_pose:
              translation: -0.055
              roll: 0.0
              pitch: 0.0
              yaw: 0.0

Yadunund · May 7, 2026, 4:58pm

Multiple components may be spawned (including NIC cards) however the task will involve a single insertion.

Regarding spawning more than 2 SC_PORTS, see sc_port_2 target fails: frame does not exist · Issue #453 · intrinsic-dev/aic · GitHub.

Topic		Replies	Views
Will there be multiple NIC and SC plugs spawned? AI for Industry Challenge	1	140	April 21, 2026
Qualification Phase: "Trial 3" AI for Industry Challenge	0	126	April 9, 2026
How to define multiple mounts per rail? AI for Industry Challenge	3	154	April 9, 2026
NIC Card Translation Limits: Inconsistencies in docs vs given sample_config AI for Industry Challenge	1	107	March 25, 2026
Limits on orientation of NIC and SC ports when spawned AI for Industry Challenge	0	48	April 20, 2026

Number of ports in trials?

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