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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.
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Message has 2 Replies:
 | | Re: LEGO Powered Boat Race
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| (...) 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 (...) (16 years ago, 14-Nov-08, to lugnet.boats, lugnet.robotics)
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