June 14th Invitation and Challenges!

Second Saturday Robot Challenge Series

For the June 14th challenge, we are continuing with the first two games, Ping Pong and Find the Pass in place, and adding a third, Treasure Hunt. The current details for all three games can be found below.

Next Challenge: June 14th

Future dates – mark your calendar! , July 12, August 9.

On the second Saturday's of the month, May through August, our FLL team is hosting a Robot Challenge Series from 10am-3pm (bring a lunch!). Each Saturday will feature robot games, and more importantly, a show-and-tell period where the kids can share their ideas about how to best solve the challenges. There will also be time for revising programs and adjusting robots in between runs against the challenge(s), and of course, time to play.

You are invited to bring your robot ready to compete, or just to come and watch and learn during the show-and-tell and hang out with the other kids. Read on for game details. Please contact me if anything is confusing, or if you want to borrow a ball setup for practicing Treasure Hunt before the competition date.

Details:

10am-3pm (bring lunch!)

Stephanie Ozenne's house

RSVP stephanie@ozenne.com

or (801) 568-7809

Game #1: Ping Pong

In this game of ping pong, your robot is the ball!

Game Specifications:

 

TABLE SETUP: This game is played on a standard FLL game table, on the white back of an old FLL mat. The mat has click-lock from a previous robot game on it, so it will not be perfectly flat but is mostly flat. There are two blue lines running across the short length of the table, made from 1” blue painter's tape, spaced 36 inches apart. The robot will start near one of the lines.

GOAL: The goal of this game is for the robot to drive back and forth between the two lines. The robot doesn't have to completely cross a line, any part of the robot passing over any part of the line counts as reaching that line.

STARTING LOCATION: The robot will start near the leftmost blue line, with the exact location decided by the robot handler.

TIME LIMIT: This game does not have a time limit. It will be over when the robot has completed the challenge or crashed into a side wall, or stopped and is no longer making progress.

Points:

Three points will be awarded each time the robot reaches a line (not including the initial line when the robot is first starting out), up to a maximum of 30 points. During the run, if the robot goes off course and crashes into a side wall, the run will end immediately. If the robot is intentionally squaring against the wall, the run will continue. Additionally, a time bonus of ten points will be awarded to the fastest robot to 30 points, eight points to the second fastest, six points to the third fastest, four points to the fourth fastest, and two points to the fifth fastest.

Game #2: Find the Pass!
Your robot needs to traverse an avalanche prone mountain pass that is just pass a shallow river that your robot can easily cross.  Frequent avalanches change the terrain, so you never know where the robot will be able to get through. Your robot will start its trip on the far side of the river at a location you will specify (before knowing where the passes will be).

Game specifications:

 

TABLE SETUP: The playing field is fairly flat and matte white. The "river" is a strip of 1" blue painter's tape run across the short length of the table. The "pass" is a 13" gap between unfinished 2x4s set so they're 3.5" high. The 2x4s are 8" long and lined up to make a complete wall across the short length of the table, except for the 13" gap. The 8” wall segments will be rearranged to change the position of the pass between runs. They will be click-locked to the table and are fairly sturdy, but they will probably fall over if rammed hard enough. There will be click lock on the table in the area of the pass that the robot may touch. There will be two walls with "passes" in them, randomly placed. There will be 24" from the river to the first pass, and 24" between the first and second passes.

GOAL: The goal is for the robot to find both passes as quickly as possible. “Finding a pass” means that some part of the robot has broken the plane of the front side of the pass.

STARTING POINT: Any location on the far side of the “river,” to be set before the location of the passes is known.

TIME LIMIT: This game has a 2 minute time limit.

Points:

Fifteen points will be awarded for each pass that the robot finds. “Finding” a pass consists of getting any part of the robot past the front plane of the wall in the area of the pass. Additionally, there will be ten points awarded to the fastest robot to find both passes, eight points awarded to the second fastest robot, six points to the third, four points to the fourth, and two points to the fifth. Once time bonuses have been awarded to the robots who have found both passes, the remaining bonuses will be awarded to the fastest robots to find one pass, until all time bonuses have been awarded.

Game #3: Treasure Hunt

You're hunting for treasure at the bottom of the sea! Three balls are each worth ten points, but you'll have to decide the best strategy for bringing home the most points. Watch out for the wreckage in the middle of the table – you'll have to avoid it!

NOTE: there will be ONE yellow ball in the game setup. The two balls here are a reminder that the position of the yellow ball is “floating” somewhere randomly in the approximately the range shown by the two balls here.

Game Specifications:

BALL HOLDERS: the bases under the balls are 6 stud x 6 stud plates with 1-by-x LEGOs on the outer edge. I used the bases from the Red and Blue Quilts from FLL's Senior Solutions field kit. The balls are from Bowling and from the “Ball game” that crossed two competition tables, also from the Senior Solutions field kit. I have a few extra of these – contact me and I can lend you one to work with if you need it!

TABLE SETUP: The center of the red ball is located 10” past the front of the blue line nearest to it, and 7” from the table wall. Note: our table walls are unusually short, extending only 2½” from the table top. The base under the red ball is click-locked to the table. The blue ball will be click-locked to the table at the end of the blue line as shown. Note the shipwreck debris (chunk of 2x4) in the middle of the table – it is click-locked to the table and must be avoided. The yellow ball will be located 7” from the wall of the table, but in a randomly determined location approximately within the range shown in the picture. The yellow ball will not be click-locked to the table, it will move easily if a robot runs into it.

GOAL: The goal is to bring as many of the colored balls back to the Sea Base as possible. Touching a robot when it is outside of the Sea Base will incur a 3 point penalty. The robot may make as many trips out of the Sea Base as it can in the 90 second time limit, but only balls that are inside the Sea Base when 90 seconds is up will count for scoring purposes.

STARTING LOCATION: The Sea Base is the area to the left of the leftmost blue line that crosses the short side of the table. The robot will start at any location inside the Sea Base.

TIME: This game has a 90 second time limit. Scoring:

Each ball collected and brought back to the Sea Base before the 90 second time limit runs out is worth ten points. Each time the robot is touched when outside of the Sea Base, a 3 point touch penalty will be incurred. Additionally, there will be ten points awarded to the fastest robot to collect all three balls, eight points awarded to the second fastest robot, six points to the third, four points to the fourth, and two points to the fifth. Once time bonuses have been awarded to the robots who have collected all three balls, the remaining bonuses will be awarded to the fastest robots to collect two balls, etc, until all time bonuses have been awarded.