|
|
| |
If you want to see the developments in robotics, learn how to make a simple
robot, and compete your own robots with others, don't miss METU ROBOTICS DAYS!
In order to participate in the competitions and join the workshop study, sign up
now from the website of organisation! Robotics Days, the oldest and the most
well-known robotics organization in Turkey, is INTERNATIONAL for first time,
this year. First international robotics organization in Turkey will be held form
21st to the 23rd of March in Ankara, Middle East Technical University (METU)
Culture & Convention Center.
In METU Robotics Days, there will be robot competitions from different
categories which original and creative ideas take their part while innovation is
honored. Participants are always encouraged to share their knowledge. Robotics
Days, apart from holding competitions for those who would like to challenge
their skilled robots, also host the professionals and academicians interested in
the field of robotics to come together in lectures and workshop studies with the
younger amateurs, giving them the opportunity to take a closer to look at this
continiously developing technology.
METU Robotics Days is an activity in which the first aim is to help people to
have an idea about the robotics. We invite you if you are interested... Come and
join us as we Enjoy the Technology..!
http://www.roboticsdays.org
http://www.odturobotgunleri.org.tr/en/
|
|
| |
NovaLUG (Nova Scotia LEGO Users Group) will be displaying at the
Museum of Industry in Stellarton, NS
this Saturday and Sunday, March 10 and 11. We will have a 5 foot by 25 foot
town/train layout, and
a display and demonstrations of some LEGO robotics (both RCX and NXT). The
museum is open 9 am to 5 pm Saturday and 10 am to 5 pm Sunday. Regular museum
admission rates apply. The museum will be supplying a play area to build your
own LEGO creations. This is the first weekend of March Break in Nova Scotia.
The museum itself looks pretty neat as well, and includes
Samson, Canada’s oldest surviving
steam locomotive, built in 1838.
Setup will be a challenge for us, as we can’t get into the museum to start until
8 am on Saturday. We have never tried this large a layout with this few members
(four) setting up in this short a time. We plan on having trains running by 9
am, and hope to have the layout set up (maybe not the greenery or telephone
poles) by 10 am. Please don’t get between me and the timbits I need to pull
this off :). We will also be trying out a new for us RCX train switching
system.
From the museum website
Admissions for 2006*
Adults $7.00
Children $3.00 (ages 6 thru 17yrs)
Children under 5yrs are Free!
Seniors $4.00 (65yrs & over)
Family $15.00 (2 adults & their children under 18yrs)
* Note: All prices include applicable sales tax
Gail Meagher
NovaLUG
Halifax
|
|
| |
Jean Marc - I was just looking at your brickshelf pictures...very cool...
Interesting thing I noticed...that sumo robot looks really similar to the one
you used in August I think :)
Bryan
|
|
| |
Seven stalwart members of NovaLUG participated in the Dartmouth Sportsplex
annual Train and Hobby Show on November 18th and 19th for the fifth consecutive
year. As in previous years, we had our own exhibition room right off the main
entrance and this year we added a sales table offering the only logical choice
for Holiday presents - Lego!
The main layout was 19 by 31 feet in a C shape, using 376½ 32x32 stud plates of
surface area, and offered a city full of interesting vignettes which included a
harbour front and automated tramway. The city expanded from last year to
include a large hospital, a hotel and an office building. There were two train
loops, one city only and the other incorprated the large rural area at one end
of the layout. The main layout is always a crowd pleaser as people discover the
various happenings of the town and enjoy the comings and goings of the trains.
There were smiles of recognition as people identified beautiful models of local
landmark buildings interspersed with others from the land of imagination! The
multi-level rural area included a large mountain where twelve modern-day
apostles listened to a scintillating sermon. As usual, a certain member
finished his layout two hours before the end of the show so he could take
pictures just before we started to tear down the display.
Our children's corner was a big hit not only with the children but also their
parents who either played along or enjoyed a moment of peace while their
children were totally engrossed with their Lego creations. Modifications were
made to the speed regulator to prevent potential train wrecks in the hands of
reckless young conductors. We have learned the importance of constant
supervision of the children's corner which we share in shifts.
There was an impressive collection of Technic and robotic models and the crowd
enjoyed regular demonstrations of Power Pullers, a crane, and a car with
pneumatic suspension, among others. In addition to a few RCX-based robots
including a Killough platform, we ramped up the activity this year by featuring
a sumo-bot wrestling ring, a NXT master-slave pair and a NXT robot who followed
instructions sent from a Bluetooth cell phone. Adults as well as children
enjoyed taking a turn at the controls. Many were surprised and fascinated to
discover this growing area of The Lego Company's product line.
We ended the show with our usual meeting at Tim Hortons for coffee and
discussion and were happy to learn that more and more organizations are
contacting us for both participation in shows and even permanent displays.
We've been playing well in 2006 and we look forward to playing even better in
2007!
Picture links:
Lawrence http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=216779
Gail http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=216749
Jean-Marc http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=216672
|
|
| |
There has not been a great deal of public discussion about having a Great Ball
Contraption at BrickFest '06, but there WILL be a GBC at BF06.
If you missed your chance last year, when we had almost fifty modules, now is
the time to start building. It doesn't have to be a big module with lots of
functions. Actually, those are usually the first to break down.
In fact, it doesn't have to be anything fancy, or exciting. Once the whole
thing is up and running, very few modules stand out, no matter how good (or bad)
they are. The true joy is watching them all work together.
If you're wondering exactly what a Great Ball Contraption is, check out this
page: http://www.teamhassenplug.org/GBC/
Or, this one: http://www.greatballcontraption.com/
If you'd like to see a little footage from last year's BrickFest, check out
Jordan Bradford's video: http://www.blockpartymod.com/brickfest/
Or look at the bottom of the TeamHassenplug page (above).
If you're planning on bringing a module to BrickFest, please send me an e-mail,
or add your GBC MOC to the BrickFest website.
Thanks
Steve
ps Several people have asked me to send them soccer balls. Sorry for the delay,
they will be sent soon.
|
|
| |
Hello Steve,
In lugnet.robotics.events, Steve Witt wrote:
> Wanted to get this back on top. Anyone interested needs to contact me at
> steve@lego.com
>
> Thanks guys. I hope to get you all involved.
FreeLUG will be here :-)
We hope to have NXT in France before the date of competition, to learn how to
use it.
See you at Billund,
JLB
|
|
| |
On Tue, June 27, 2006 1:57 pm, Steve Witt wrote:
> In lugnet.announce, Steve Witt wrote:
> > We have great news for you. The 2nd International LEGO MINDSTORMS
> > Competition is on the horizon
> >
> > We are in the early planning phase but for now we can disclose the date and
> > the location. It will take place the weekend of October 6-8 in Billund,
> > Denmark. Come and meet other LEGO MINDSTORMS enthusiasts, get an inside LEGO
> > factory tour and take on the ultimate challenge:
> >
> > who is the worlds MINDSTORMS champion?
> >
> > There is a max. capacity of 16 teams and each team can have 3-6
> > participants.
This was a bunch of fun last year. I'm not sure, but I'm hoping I can go again this
year.
The great part was meeting the "Best of the Best" in the world of LEGO Mindstorms.
I assume the event will use the NXT. It should be interesting to see how these
builders adjust and learn to use the NXT.
I really want to go...
Steve
|
|
| |
In lugnet.announce, Steve Witt wrote:
> We have great news for you. The 2nd International LEGO MINDSTORMS
> Competition is on the horizon
>
> We are in the early planning phase but for now we can disclose the date and
> the location. It will take place the weekend of October 6-8 in Billund,
> Denmark. Come and meet other LEGO MINDSTORMS enthusiasts, get an inside LEGO
> factory tour and take on the ultimate challenge:
>
> who is the worlds MINDSTORMS champion?
>
> There is a max. capacity of 16 teams and each team can have 3-6
> participants.
>
> One slot is already taken by the LEGO All Stars Team,so come to Billund
> and beat them!
>
> If you want to take part in this once in a lifetime (well 2nd once in a
> life time) competition and challenge the Best of the Best in the LEGO MINDSTORMS
> World, Hurry up and send an e-mail to steve@lego.com to reserve
> your team slot.
>
> More detailed information about this event will be available beginning of
> August.
>
> See you all in Billund.
> Steve Witt and Jan Beyer
Wanted to get this back on top. Anyone interested needs to contact me at
steve@lego.com
Thanks guys. I hope to get you all involved.
Steve
|
|
| |
Official Rules to Two Mindstorms Challenges Released! And odds and ends!
We are pleased to release the rules to two of the upcoming Mindstorms
challenges. PDF Rules to these are the
Gladiator Sumo and
Great Ball Gathering.
“Great Ball Gathering” Contest
The Goal
Score more points than your opponent by collecting Lego® balls off the playing
surface.
The Playing Surface
The playing surface shall be a 4’ x 8’ area with 2”x 4” walls (like a FIRST Lego
League table). The surface shall be a white mat (upside down FLL mat). There
shall be a home base defined on each half of the playing surface. The home
bases shall be at opposite corners of the playing surface. Each home base shall
be defined by 2 strips of ¾” black electrical tape. The inner size of the home
base shall be 10” x 10”, making each home base a 10” square.
Game Play
Each match of the competition shall be 90 seconds. The winner of a match is
determined by the points the robot scores in the 90 second match. Tournament
format will be chosen based on the number of participants. Possible tournament
formats are single elimination, double elimination and round robin. In the
event of a tie of win-loss records at the end of round robin (if that format is
used) total points scored will determine the winner.
Approximately 1,000
soccer balls and 50 basketballs will be randomly (as evenly as possible)
distributed on the table prior to each round. Additionally, there will be 10 1
½” plastic balls (like the balls from FLL) on the table in random locations.
Robot Limitations
A competing robot shall meet the following criteria:
- The maximum size of the robot at the start of a competition round shall be 10” x 10” with no height limit
- The maximum weight of the robot is 2 ½ pounds
- Robots may only use Scout, Spybot, RCX, or NXT processors if a processor is used. No third party processors are allowed
- It is preferable that each competing robot stop automatically at the end of a match. This is not required
- Robots may not intentionally disable (physically or electronically) their opponent
Scoring
Each ball held by the robot at the end of the match shall impact the score as
follows:
- Unsorted soccer balls and basketballs are worth 1 point each
- Sorted basketballs are worth 5 points each
- 1 ½” plastic balls are worth 10 points each
A PDF version of the rules of the Great Ball Gathering can be found
here.
Gladiator Sumo
Description of the Contest
The competition will involve two limited sized contesting Sumo robots which will
compete within a circular arena. The purpose of the competition will be for one
robot to eliminate the other by means of pushing it out of the arena or
incapacitating it by tipping, disabling or overturning it within the bout time
limit.
The winner of the bout will be either the robot left functioning in
the arena or the last robot out of the arena in the event that the winning robot
falls out of the arena after it has pushed its opponent out. If both robots are
still moving under their own power or are entangled with no clear winner after
the time limit, then the bout will be declared a draw. (If the robots are
entangled and wear and tear is occurring and both contestants agree to a draw,
the bout may be ended early.)
A winning robot will receive 2 points, a losing
robot 0 points. A draw will assign 1 point to each robot. After each contesting
robot has had a chance to battle with every other, the points will be tallied
and the robot with the highest score will be declared the winner. If there is a
draw, the most appealing design, as determined by a popular vote will be
declared the winner.
The Arena
The arena will consist of a flat and
reasonably smooth circular plywood disk which will be painted with semi gloss
white paint. A black border of flat black paint will be used to assist the Sumo
robots in determining their proximity to the edge of the arena. The arena
surface will be raised approximately 1 inch from the supporting surface (either
floor or tables) so that it becomes obvious when a contestant has been pushed
from the arena, which will be taken to be the point at which it is unable to
return to competition. The overall arena diameter will be 48 inches (121.92 cm)
which will include the 3 inch (7.62 cm) wide black edge marking.
Timing
Bouts will last up to a maximum of 3 minutes, if no clear winner is established
before this time. When a bout is started, each Sumo robot must wait for a
minimum of 5 seconds before moving. A robot must start moving forward, ie; away
from the center of the arena, within 10 seconds of the start of the bout.
Starting Positions
The Sumo robots will start back to back either side of the
center of the arena. The robots will be placed with their rear most structure
spaced 3” (7.6cm) from the center of the arena. Where a robot may be of a design
with no clear front and back, the front will be the direction it will first move
in when it starts.
Each robot must have started moving forward, ie; away from
the center of the arena, after 5 seconds and within 10 seconds of the start of
the bout. This movement must be made in a straight line, as defined below, for a
distance of at least 3” (7.6cm).
Mechanical Rules
Sumo robots must conform
to a maximum horizontal plane size specification. The outline of the robot must
be such that it fits inside a 7 3?4“ (19.7cm) internal diameter cylinder.
The
robot design must be such that it is capable of straight line travel which will
be defined as the ability to move its nominal center a distance of 3” (7.6cm)
with less than 30° change in course or the structure’s pointing direction.
A
robot is permitted to modify its geometry after the bout has started if desired.
This modification may start immediately after the bout has started and is not
required to wait for the 5 second movement start delay. There are no other
weight or dimension limits.
Weapons Rules
Sumo robots may use certain
non-damaging weapons in an attempt to reduce mobility of their opponent
including; deployable objects intended to impede the opposing robot, lances (for
example; Lego cross axles or beams) to be inserted into the opponent’s
structure, or entrapment devices such as strings, wires, chains or nets.
Deployed objects must be inert, ie; not mobile under their own power.
Construction Rules
Sumo robots must be constructed of 100% unmodified Lego
brand parts. No adhesives or melting may be used in the construction of the
robots. The robots shall be designed to remain as a single entity throughout the
duration of a bout with the exception of any deployed objects defined as
weapons. A robot may not release fluid. Robots may not include offensive weapons
or mechanical systems designed to dismantle the opponent. Contesting robots are
to be designed to primarily push, lift, rotate, tip, impede or overturn the
opponent.
A PDF version of the rules of the Gladiator Sumo can be found
here.
Odds and Ends
Don’t forget to take a look at the shirts that are now on sale. Coming soon will
be the Event Kit and other items, so stay tuned!
Also, if you have a presentation or demonstration that has to do with LEGO, sign
up to be a presenter at your BrickFest account! Your presentation will be seen
by AFOLS and maybe a LEGO VIP (yes, they are coming!)
Sponsorships are still
open, so if you want to help out with prizes drop me a line at the above address
- you’ll be able to get a web banner, an ad in the Event Program, and perhaps an
ad in BrickJournal!
More news coming soon!
Joe Meno
Event Coordinator, BrickFest 2006
|
|
 |
Subject:
|
BrickFest Bulletin: Mindstorms/Technic Contests and Events, Space Contests, Castle Contest and..
|
Newsgroups:
|
lugnet.events.brickfest, lugnet.events, lugnet.robotics, lugnet.robotics.events, lugnet.space, lugnet.castle, lugnet.general, lugnet.announce, lugnet.build.contests
|
Followup-To:
|
lugnet.events.brickfest
|
Date:
|
Sat, 20 May 2006 09:58:53 GMT
|
Highlighted:
|
!!
(details)
|
Viewed:
|
24065 times
|
| |
|
|
Mindstorms/Technic Events
BrickFest 2006 is fast approaching!
This year, the Technic and Mindstorms Theme coordinators are pleased to announce
5 competitions. The competitions will be spread across the 3 days of
BrickFest.
The planned competitions are:
- Monster Truck Jam
- A robotic challenge to master an “off-road” course
- Ocean Odyssey 2005 FLL
- Can the adults do as well as those kids from Kokomo, Indiana that claimed the Director’s Cup at the FLL World Festival?
- Great Ball Gathering
- How many balls can you collect in 90 seconds?
- Tug-o-war
- Brute force and potential robotic destruction? Who wouldn’t enjoy this?
- Sumo Wrestling
- More potential destruction as robots push each other around to be the master of the ring
And, no Mindstorms Theme would be complete in 2006 without an NXT Demonstration.
Of course, this demonstration will be a surprise that we will save for
BrickFest.
Rules for the competitions are being finalized and will be
announced shortly.
The Technic Theme area of BrickFest is planned with a large GBC along with many
interactive MOCs.
We invite you to join the fun in each of the 5 competitions and to bring along
your Technic/Mindstorms MOCs for display and for play. Keep watching for the
competitions rules to be posted soon!!!
We are looking forward to seeing
your creations!!!
Bryan Bonahoom, Steve Hassenplug, John Barnes, John Brost, Brian Davis, & Kevin
Clague
Space Contests
This year, the Space Theme coordinators are pleased to announce 2 competitions:
- Steampunk Building Contest
- Build Steampunk models? Coming to Brickfest? Submit your model to this contest that will have awards in the follwoing categories: Best land vehicle,
- Moonbase Multiconnector Contest
- The parameters are simple, a single baseplate moonbase module, with AT LEAST 3 corridor connections. The idea is to promote the creation of more of the kind of module needed to make moonbase function, but to do so with some creativity. We’re hoping to see less simple crossing corridors, and instead get some interesting concepts!
Dan Rubin & Fradel Gonzales
Castle Contests
This year, the Castle Theme coordinators are pleased to announce 1 competition:
- Catapult Contest
- Basketballs and soccer balls would be small projectiles and balls http://www.peeron.com/inv/parts/23065 Duplo balls would be the large projectiles. In addition to the traditional distance competition, we plan on having an accuracy competition. This would involve aiming projectiles through a board with circles cut out of it. There would be awards for most accurate catapults and longest shots.
Ben Ellermann & Cyndi Bradham
and one last thing...
Polo shirts and event T-shirts are available on the <http://www.brickfest.com
BrickFest. webpage for attendees! You can order on your account.
BrickFest 2006 IS fast approaching, so sign up before it’s too late!
See you in August,
Joe Meno
Event Coordinator, BrickFest 2006
PS. If anyone has a question, don’t hesitate to drop me a line!
|
|
| |
Competition VIII Press Release
For Immediate Release!
Ivy Tech State College and the Evansville Chapter 73 of The Society of
Manufacturing Engineers announce the Student Robotics Challenge VIII titled "The
Hustle ". In this competition autonomous robots (not remote controlled) will be
required to retrieve ping-pong balls and place them in specific areas to receive
points. The further details of the competition will be released at a later date.
Registration is open to area middle and high school teams. This year's event
will also include a college division. Entries will be limited to 30 teams. One
team per school will be admitted through Friday, October 7, 2005. After that,
multiple teams from the same school will be admitted on a
first-come-first-served basis until the 30-team limit is met. Deadline for all
registrations is Wednesday, October 12, 2005. Registration instructions are
available at the Ivy Tech State College robotics competition web site at:
http://faculty.ivytech.edu/~scombs/robotics/competition/
Teams will receive their LEGO Team Challenge kits along with the exact scope of
the competition and programming instructions at Ivy Tech State College on
Friday, October 14, 2005 between the hours of 3 and 4pm. The competition will be
held in the Ivy Tech State College commons on November 11, 2005 starting at
6:00pm. Registration will begin at 5:00pm. Ivy Tech State College, The Society
of Manufacturing Engineers, Whirlpool Corporation and Toyota Motor Manufacturing
of Indiana sponsor this competition. Other contributors to this competition
include; the Ivy Tech State College National Association of Industrial
Technology (NAIT) Student Chapter and Ferro Corporation.
|
|
| |
We the curators of .mecha are hosting a mecha pose contest.
Wassat? See it here:
http://news.lugnet.com/build/mecha/mechaposecontest
The long and short of it is this:
Take a mecha creation, new or old, and take a new pic of it. Most striking
imaginative poses count.
Categories are Large, Medium, and Small mecha. An award will also be given to
best overall. (best overall is not a category, just enter in one of the
previous three categories)
Contest begins today and ends June 17th, 2005.
One entry per person per category.
Make your entry by posting the pic in lugnet.build.mecha using the following
subject line: Entry - MPC - Creator's name - category.
Judging will be by .mecha curators who are not eligible for the contest.
for more information go to:
http://news.lugnet.com/build/mecha/mechaposecontest
Thank you, good luck, and have fun!
Mark Neumann
|
|
| |
1) The Call for Presentation and Papers for the Annual ROBOLAB Conference
(August 15-17th, Austin, Texas) has been extended to APRIL 1st. Please
consider submitting a presentation or a paper for the conference. Details
are available at the conference web site
http://www.ceeo.tufts.edu/events/robolabconference
2) Registration forms for the Annual ROBOLAB Conference are now available
at the web site! Sign up Soon!
http://www.ceeo.tufts.edu/events/robolabconference
3) The Northeast Regional ROBOLAB Conference is a happening on April 8 in
Enfield, CT. The event will feature presentations by local educators,
ROBOLAB workshops and event a factory tour. Visit the web site for more
details and registration forms.
http://ceeo.tufts.edu/events/robolabconference/regional/northeast.htm
-----------------------
Tonya L. Witherspoon
Educational Technology Specialist
Center for Research and Evaluation Services Fellow
College of Education, Wichita State University
1845 N. Fairmount, Wichita, KS 67260-0131
316-978-6242 (voice)
316-978-3302 (fax)
http://www.wichita.edu/education/twitherspoon
|
|
| |
Does anybody know of LEGO Mindstorms competitions for teen-agers in
Germany/Europe that don't impose any limits on the used programming
language? FFL looks O.K., almost no limits (except motors, RCXs and
sensors), but that's only fair. RoboCup Junior looks interesting, but
it's in Japan, which is just too far away! (I live in Bavaria,Germany)
Regards,
Thomas
|
|
| |
Rebelupicus, a GardenSLUG sponsored FLL team, will be competing in the FLL
tournament at Mount Olive High School, NJ, Dec. 11 2004.
This is their rookie year and have worked hard this season.
Good Luck Rebelupicus!
Patty Van Dyke
|
|
| |
This past weekend, the New England Lego User’s Group displayed a 10’x30’ train
display at the RI Cooks convention in Providence. We were also accompnaied by a
pair of RI First Lego League teams who are preparing for competition this coming
January.
We started setup on Friday morning, all set to make a square 20’x20’ layout.
Then we had to completely change on the fly, as we discovered the real
dimensions were 10’x30’+. Plenty of room for our MOCs, but we were challenged
to make the layout without Track Designer, just using our heads!
After solving that problem, we got down to enjoying the show. And the spirits!
This show was a bit different then our typical fare, with booths filled with
food and wine to taste. At the end of the weekend, we were all fairly used to
eating in small dixie cup sized portions!
Several of the members were excited to have a show in Southern New England,
finally. Jamie barely knew what to do with himself after his grueling 15 minute
ride. With this shorter drive to shows, I think the pressure is on Wayne to
actually build something for the next show down here! We also got to meet
Richard Legault, who has been lurking for some time, and just needed us to get
closer to Newport for him to come out.
Finally, we met some middle school students who were very excited to display
their latest robotic creations. Tom Kowalczyk and his crack team of FLL kids
were hard at work designing solutions to the last few challenges before thier
state competition on January 15th. Tom is looking for some good judges, if any
New Englanders are interested. (Seems like there should be a
lugnet.robotics.fll group, no? Maybe someday.)
Photographic highlights of the event:
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=104900
Eric Kingsley brought his massive new tower/train station:
http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/alfredjr/NELUG/RI-Cooks04/02.jpg
Speed train:
http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/alfredjr/NELUG/RI-Cooks04/03.jpg
There was wine at this show:
http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/alfredjr/NELUG/RI-Cooks04/08.jpg
Liscence & Registration, Sir:
http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/alfredjr/NELUG/RI-Cooks04/07.jpg
Uhauls do break down:
http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/alfredjr/NELUG/RI-Cooks04/12.jpg
First Lego League kids show off:
http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/alfredjr/NELUG/RI-Cooks04/18fll.jpg
Thanks to everyone who came and helped out, even if it was just to clean
up, or bring a MOC! We had a lot of fun. Hopefully, we can do more shows
down here in SE New England.
-Alfred
|
|
| |
Hi all,
2 weeks ago I finished teaching the first course of Mindstorms in Tel-Aviv
University - Israel and wanted to share pictures from the entire course.
Enjoy
Yaron “Webrain” Dori
|
|
| |
A couple of people have asked for rule clarifications. To be fair to everyone
competing, below is what I've sent them. This doesn't change any of the rules I
posted before, and probably shouldn't change how you build or program your
robot.
I'll use a stop watch to time the robots, I'll call out "ready, set, go"; you'll
have the option to start your robot however you want, either by pressing the run
button, with a remote, or whatever you like, so long as the robot doesn't start
moving before the signal.
There will be a thin red line to mark the starting line, your robot needs to be
entirely behind that line to start. The same line is used to mark laps. Every
time your robot's front edge crosses the line, that will count as a lap. Since
there is no way for your robot to tell that it has done three laps, (it is
unlikely that your robot will be able to detect the line) after the third lap,
you may catch your robot, and turn it off, or use the remote, etc. Robots should
be fast enough to complete each lap in under a minute, and hence the entire
course in under three minutes.
I don't know how long the course will be until I get there. I plan to make a
rough oval or perhaps kidney shape on the available space, (5'x8') with about a
foot free around the edge, so that gives an idea. Make sure your robot can
handle driving over a piece of duct tape (don't drag bricks on the ground, and
you should be okay) -- I'll use white duct tape to smooth out the seam between
the two tables or surfaces. The rules say the line will be 3/4" black tape, and
that each 'segment' is at least 6" long. The corners are allowed to be up to 60
degree turns, though most will be a lot less than that. As long as part of your
robot is still 'on' the line, I'll assume that you're tracking it. That means
you don't have to follow the line with a light sensor directly over the line at
all times. You can smooth out corners. But don't smooth them out so much that
your robot doesn't cover at least part of the line at all times.
Also, since several people are planning on flying in with their robots, I've had
questions about carrying them on airplanes. I've traveled with robots in my
carry-on luggage a couple of times since 9/11. Usually I put it in a plastic
bag, one that I can remove much of the air out of, and make sure that I pack it
securely so that it won't break (at least too much).
When I get to the front of the security line, where you put your bags on the
conveyor to go through the x-ray machines, I always make it a point to very
plainly tell the person on this side of the security check that I have a Lego
robot in my luggage. (Use short sentences and short words so that they can
understand :-). I also offer to remove it so that they can examine it. So far
they've always told me it's not a problem, just leave it. I think that being
forthcoming about something that might be suspicious removes most of the
suspicion they might have.
Finally, even if you're not bringing a laptop, make sure you bring your program
on a floppy or perhaps even better these days, a CDR. There will be other people
with laptops, so that if something inadvertently happens, you can still reload
your program. Include a copy of your firmware, which you might have to reload,
and a copy of your development environment on the disk too, since when you get
there, you might want to make last minute changes.
--
David Schilling
In lugnet.robotics, David Schilling wrote:
> Announcing a robot competition for BrickFest PDX...
>
>
> Robo Waiter: Line tracking while carrying mini-soccer balls
> -----------
>
>
> Build a Robotic Waiter that can carry a tray full of mini Lego soccer balls (or
> equivalently, basket balls) around a track. Loosing balls from your tray will
> add a time penalty. The Robo Waiter with the lowest time (including penalties),
> WINS! A second prize will be given to the best dressed, functioning robot.
>
> Each robot will have three chances to attempt the course. Only the best time
> counts.
>
> The robot must carry seven (7) balls on a tray, which must be the highest point
> on your robot at all times. The tray is a 6x6 square plate, with four tiles
> covering the middle 4x4 area, two 1x4 and two 1x6 plates forming the lip of the
> tray. See
> http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/David/SMART/Samples/plate.gif
>
> Loosing the first ball will add 5 seconds to your score. Each additional ball
> lost will add n*5 more seconds to your score.
>
> Balls Ball Total
> Lost Penalty Penalty
> 1 5 seconds 5 seconds
> 2 10 seconds 15 seconds
> 3 15 seconds 30 seconds
> 4 20 seconds 50 seconds
> 5 25 seconds 75 seconds
> 6 30 seconds 105 seconds
> 7 35 seconds 140 seconds
>
> Robots must be built of only standard Lego elements, and only with standard
> building methods. No custom sensors, modified elements, or gluing, etc.
>
> The tray must be the highest point on your robot at all times. Robots must be no
> larger than 12 inches by 12 inches. There are no other restrictions on how many
> or what elements may be used by your robot.
>
> The line will be a closed loop, using 3/4" black tape on a white surface. Each
> line segment will be at least 6" long, and the sharpest turn will be 60 degrees.
> Robots will complete three laps or circuits of this loop per attempt.
>
> Robots that entirely leave the line at any point will be given an DNC (did not
> complete) instead of a score for that round. Any robot unable to complete a
> single circuit within a minute will also be given an DNC.
>
> The main prize is for the fastest waiter. There will also be a second prize for
> the "Best Dressed Robo Waiter". Note that the robot for this prize must be a
> *functioning* robot! It must be able to carry a tray of balls around the course
> at least once.
>
>
> Good luck!
>
> --
> David Schilling
|
|
|
