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Subject: 
LEGO Powered Boat Race
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.announce, lugnet.boats
Followup-To: 
lugnet.boats
Date: 
Wed, 12 Nov 2008 21:48:30 GMT
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During Festival of the Masters, GFLUG held it’s first annual LEGO Powered Boat Race. What is that, you may ask?

To give you a little background, the theme that GFLUG members were to build MOCs according to was “Transportation: Past, Present & Beyond!” The challenge was then thrown out for GFLUG members to construct a floating vehicle from LEGO that will be able to maneuver across a pool using LEGO-only power.

We had two types of races, winners of each (will) received engraved bricks & LEGO as prizes. The first race -- a simple race -- was to cross the pool length-wise, first one to touch the far side wins. The second race was to maneuver around obstacles, but due to poor planning & bad lighting conditions, the boats simply had to traverse three sides of the pool in a horse-shoe shape, first one to reach the far side won. And since the first two races were so much fun, we ended up holding a third “simple race”.

Here’s a picture of the winning boat (made by Robin Werner) of the first two heaps:


(photo by Todd Thuma)

Don’t have a photo of the winner of the third race, sorry. However, I’ll do a follow-up post of pictures of GFLUG boats MOCs from the event when I receive them. And we’ve taken some video of the races -- but keep in mind, it was dark -- however, if we dig up some good footage, I’ll do a follow post.

So, in the mean time, I wanted to throw out the rules that we came up with. This was our proof-of-concept race & had lots of fun! Our group is already talking about having a 2nd race at our next major event -- MegaCon in February. Everyone is welcome to adopt the rules & enhance them as the see fit, but please post pictures from the race & thoughts about your experiences.

Our thoughts:
  • Always remember try out your boat in water before the event.
  • Don’t over engineer the problem, sometime simpler is faster.
  • We came up with a few other (alternative) heaps listed below.
  • Water-proof your electronics! Can’t stress this enough.

THE OBJECTIVE:

The object of the races is for competitors to construct a floating vehicle from LEGO that will be able to maneuver across a pool using LEGO-only power.

TYPES OF HEAPS:
  • The Simple Heap: The first race will be for you to maneuver your boat from one side of the pool to the far side of the pool (length-wise); the first boat to reach the far side wins. Great for everyone that just has a floating haul & a boat motor.

  • The Advance Heap: The second race will be for those boats that can do a “pool lap” (ie. go from pool side A to pool side B, then back to pool side A). Similar to the America’s cup, your boat will sail around buoys or maneuver around obstacles in the pool.

  • The Tug-of-War Heap: Two boats tethered together by a string, start out heading in opposite directions. Boat A must pull boat B past a stationary marker (pool lap lines make a good point of reference).

  • Boat Sumo Heap: Two boat start in the middle of the pool. Boat A must push boat B into a pool wall.
RULES:
  • The boat must be made from LEGO elements and must only use LEGO for power. No glue, melting or modification of LEGO is allowed.

  • Tape is allowed to help keep your watercraft air-tight as possible. As well as plastic/zip-lock bags/foam to help keep your electronics dry. Non-LEGO items should not provide additional power. And non-LEGO items should not contribute more than 5% buoyancy to the overall water craft (the rule here is to help keep it dry, not make it perform better).

  • PaB LEGO cups are allowed (for floatation) as a construction element in your boat.

  • For “advance” boat heaps, “battle boat” rules apply -- you may use any LEGO construction to try and throw other boats off course or sink them. Be creative!

  • Organizers of the boat race are not responsible for any water damage or loss. Contestants enter the competition entirely at their own risk. If you are using a NXT/RCX in your boat construction, remember to keep the brick air-tight in case it sinks!

  • These rules are subject to improvement, further clarification, & change. If you have suggestions or improvements on how to make these races better, please provide feedback!
Enjoy,
--Mike.



Message has 2 Replies:
  Re: LEGO Powered Boat Race
 
(...) Cool. Although since the festival takes place at Downtown Disney, I think you really should have had a race across the entire lake. Serenity could handle it: (URL) I've got the 2.0 version (using two blue hulls... and mounting a camera that (...) (15 years ago, 14-Nov-08, to lugnet.boats, lugnet.robotics)
  Re: LEGO Powered Boat Race
 
(...) More pictures from the event (many thanks to Shelley for providing them!): (6 URLs) --Mike. (15 years ago, 16-Nov-08, to lugnet.robotics, FTX)

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