Subject:
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September 18th 2004 SMART Meeting Notes
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.org.us.smart
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Date:
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Tue, 21 Sep 2004 06:03:19 GMT
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Viewed:
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1518 times
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Our annual BrickHeap Wars competition this year was not as strongly attended as
previous years, but the people who did attend had a ton of fun.
The challenge given at the start of the meeting was to build a robot that would
track a line and be able to stack cubes that were placed on the line. This
proved quite a difficult challenge, and neither of the two teams was able to
complete the task, though both came incredibly close. Perhaps if they'd just had
a little more time...
Anyway, here are some pictures of the event:
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=99192
Several people participating asked that this be the mini-challenge for the next
meeting as well. So that's what we'll do. The cubes are standard 'competition
cubes' (see http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=376754).
A black 3/4" line with several turns, possibly as sharp as 90-degrees, will be
put on a light surface (perhaps a table). Your robot is free to ignore the line,
but since the cubes will be on that line, your best choice will probably be to
follow it.
As with any other mini-challenge, attempt whatever part you wish or are able to.
We'll look forward to seeing your robots in November.
Finally, this weekend is Robothon, happening at the Seattle Center Centerhouse.
Any SMART member wishing to bring a robot to show or demonstrate, we'll have a
table that you can use to do so.
--
David Schilling
PS: These were the rules for the BrickHeap Wars:
BrickHeap Wars - Cube Stackers
Object:
Build a robot that stacks LEGO cubes.
A random number of LEGO cubes will be placed at random distances along a line.
The line will have a few turns in it. Turns will be up to 90 degrees. The only
thing you can be sure of is that there will be at least an inch between cubes,
and that there will be at least six inches after a turn without any cubes. Cubes
will generally be lined up with sides parallel to the line, but this won’t be
exact, so don’t count on it too heavily.
The robot should collect cubes, and stack them. It may stack the cubes anywhere
it likes: on the line, at the end of the line, beside the line, where ever. Only
free-standing towers (at the end of three minutes) will count.
Scoring:
Each tower of cubes you build is worth one point for each cube except the bottom
one. A tower must be free-standing to count.
This means a tower of four cubes is worth three points. You may, if you wish,
build pyramids or other structures. Any cube touching the floor will receive
zero points; any cube not directly touching the floor will receive a single
point. But any structure touching any part of your robot (including parts you
may have lost along the way) in any way will receive zero points, no matter how
many cubes it has.
You may build as many towers as you like. Your final score is the sum of points
for each tower you build. Naturally if you build only towers of two cubes, you
will get fewer points than if you had built a single tower. But then it is
probably a lot simpler and almost certainly more reliable to design a robot that
builds short towers.
Time Limits:
You have three and a half hours to build and program your robots. Both building
and programming must stop immediately when the ending time is announced.
Robots will have three minutes to stack the cubes. Each robot will be given two
chances; the scores will be added together.
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: September 18th 2004 SMART Meeting Notes
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| Oh, for the BrickHeap Wars competition, I also provided a small snippet of line-tracking code that teams could use if they wanted. The code isn't guaranteed to work, and depends on the geometry of your robot, but it's a good starting point if you're (...) (20 years ago, 21-Sep-04, to lugnet.org.us.smart)
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