RARC Competition 3 - Elementary Division Guidelines - Page 1

Transcription

1 RARC Competition 3 - Elementary Division Guidelines - Page 1

2 The Wonders of the World Congratulations on completing your first two adventures and advancing on to the final leg of your journey. Once again, your team will crisscross five oceans and seven continents as you explore the Wonders of the World, learn about them and the communities that surround them, and, in some cases, help preserve them for future generations to experience. Your final adventure will allow you to see new wonders and revisit wonders from previous adventures. Chichen Itza ( "at the mouth of the well of the Itza ") is a Mayan city on the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. The history of this ancient city is not clear because written records are scarce from that time period. It is believed that Chichen Itza existed as a ceremonial center for the Mayan civilization beginning as early as 500 AD. Although few written records exist, the sophistication of the Mayan people can be found through the massive and symbolic pyramids and temples, carved columns and sculptures, astronomy observatory, and multiple sports fields. Chichen Itza is a popular tourist attraction, and one of its busiest days is the spring equinox. On Sunday, March 20, several thousand people will show up to see the light-and-shadow effect on the Temple of Kukulcan in which the feathered serpent god appears to crawl down the side of the pyramid. The International Explorers Association will have a large drone on site to capture footage of the spring equinox at Chichen Itza. Your team s task is to retrieve the drone from Chichen Itza and carry it to the Valley of the Geysers so it can capture images of the geysers activity. The Amazon rainforest is believed to be 55 million years old. It belongs to nine nations in South America and represents over half of the planet s remaining rainforests. The Amazon has the largest collection of living plants and animals. Some of its inhabitants include the following: anacondas, giant anteaters, electric eels, pink river dolphins, poison dart frogs, toucans, and vampire bats. Like other plants around the world, plants found within the rainforest have medicinal qualities. For example, of the plants known to have anti-cancer properties, 70% are found in the rainforest. Amazon natives use rainforest plants regularly, but 90% of the ones they use have not been studied by modern science. Your team s task is to deliver samples of plant life from the Amazon to Denali, where they will be researched alongside plants native to that region. The Great Wall of China is a 2,000 year old man-made wonder that a fellow explorer is anxious to see again as he has been stranded in Australia for a long time. Your team is asked to pick up the explorer and transport him from Australia to the Great Wall of China. Be careful to deliver him four inches from the wall to prevent any damage to this ancient wonder. Adventure Awaits! RARC Competition 3 - Elementary Division Guidelines - Page 2

3 Rules and Regulations Competition General Rules There will only be two rounds of play on competition day. The first round will be the robotics challenge detailed in these guidelines. The second round will be a mystery challenge, which will be revealed at the competition. The scores from both rounds will be added together for one overall score. Teams will have time between rounds to go to the pit area. Trophies will be awarded to the top three teams in each division (elementary, middle, and high school). Only student team members are allowed in robotics challenge areas. Team members must ensure that they do not block the judge's view. Robots must be presented for a compliance check at the challenge area entrance before going to the competition mats. In the event that the robot breaks down during the challenge, the team will not be given any extra time to fix the robot. The role of an adult is that of a facilitator and thus all work prior to and at the competitions should be the work of students and not adults. Adults are not allowed to use team computers or to touch robotics equipment during the competition. Teams who receive unauthorized aid will be disqualified. Teams are not allowed to program another team s robot or to maliciously modify another team s robot design or programming. Teams will be disqualified for these actions. The RARC committee makes every effort to provide a detailed set of rules for each competition. If you believe that a rule needs further clarification or that a detail might have been left out, please submit your questions/concerns prior to the competition on the Competition Questions tab of the Coaches page. Clarifications/answers from the RARC committee will be posted on the same page. Please monitor the webpage for guidelines and questions updates. Coaches are responsible for verifying that all students have read and understand the rules of the competition. In the interest of time, teams are expected to know the rules when they go to the mat and to begin competing immediately. Judges and RARC Committee members understand the need for fairness across all challenges. No video or photographic record made by judges, team coaches/parents, spectators, or students of an event will be used for judging purposes. Except to go to and from the competition mats, technology (robots, laptops, external drives, etc.) is not allowed to leave or enter the team preparation area after opening ceremonies. Robot Design Rules Robots must not exceed the dimensions of 12 width by 12 length and a height of 12. The robot, including all components such as cables, must fit these dimensions in its starting position in the home base, e.g., cannot turn it on its side to fit the dimensions. Robots may only utilize 1 NXT/EV3 intelligent brick, 3 NXT/EV3 motors, and 1 battery source as part of the robot. Teams may not use extra batteries, intelligent bricks or motors as weight. Robots must be autonomous and may not be remotely controlled. Teams may not use any materials (for example: oil, glue, and tape) that may adversely impact another team s performance. String or rubber bands may be used as long as they do not adversely affect another team s performance. Things to keep in mind: Lighting conditions from mat to mat and location of mat can affect the performance of the robot. There might be bumps or uneven sections under the mat, and the mats may not lose their waviness even if rolled out ahead of time at the competition location RARC Competition 3 - Elementary Division Guidelines - Page 3

4 Mats will be taped using 2 inch blue painter s tape around the perimeter of the mat to keep them in place. The outer portion of the tape will serve as the final border for the mat. Note that teams should avoid using the edge of the mat as a guide since the tape edge can affect the performance of the bot. Before Play Robotics Challenge Rules Robots must start the round in home base and no part of the robot, game pieces, or alignment guides may extend past the base boundaries before the start of the round or when resetting the field. All team members may approach the competition mat. The team captain should be the only team member touching the robot while other team members assist with building items. Team member should be sure they are not blocking the judges views, casting a shadow on the mat, or interfering with play in any way. Teams are allowed to bring the competition guidelines to the mat but judges will not give extra time to read and/or review them. During Play Teams will have a maximum of 1 minute and 30 seconds from when the judge announces GO to complete as many of the challenge tasks as possible. Consider strategy! Round 1 continues until the 1 minute and 30 seconds have elapsed or the team captain calls TIME. The only time that a team member is allowed to touch the robot is when positioning or modifying (changing attachments) the robot in home base. If students touch the bot while it is outside of the home base, the bot must be immediately returned to home base and any pieces left as they are on the mat. If one drive wheel (wheels attached to a motor and used to drive robot) goes off the mat, students must stop the bot immediately and return the robot to home base. Any pieces that were moved off the mat during this process must remain off the mat, i.e., the students can not move/retrieve them by hand. No items outside of home base on the mat may be touched by hand during the round. Students may interact with the game pieces and robot without penalty while the game pieces and robot are located in home base. Students are not allowed to modify the playing field while attempting to retrieve their robots while the round is still in motion. The judges may make the decision, at their discretion, to not score any task that was modified by the students or the robot in the event that the bot modifies the field after going off the mat. The team captain may tell the judge TIME and the judge will stop the official time. Once time is called, the round may not be restarted. Robots must not exceed the dimensions of 12 width by 12 length and a height of 12 during play. After Play In order to increase the accuracy of the scoring, only the end state of the field will be scored. The teams must be careful in their game strategies because an action of the robot might alter the previous state of the field. Neither students nor judges are allowed to touch or otherwise modify the end state of the field until the scoring has been completed RARC Competition 3 - Elementary Division Guidelines - Page 4

5 Scoring will be conducted electronically, and team captains are encouraged to review their teams score sheet with the mat judge after the judge has completed marking the end state of the field. Teams may use the Scoring Sheet on page 5 as a sample score sheet as in previous competitions. In the event that paper score sheets are used, team captains will need to bring their teams score sheets to the scorekeeper s table for tabulation. No video or photographic record made by judges, team coaches/parents, spectators, or students of an event will be used for judging purposes. The pieces are considered to be in, touching or on the surface if at least part of the game piece is touching or is inside of the boundary of the required field. See graphic to the right RARC Competition 3 - Elementary Division Guidelines - Page 5

6 Scoring Sheet Team Name Mat A B C D E F G H Round 1 Collect a drone from the Chichen Itza and deliver it to the Valley of the Geysers Objective: Travel to Chichen Itza and retrieve a drone using a third motor. +25 points for collecting the drone +100 points for delivering the drone inside the white box at the Valley of the Geysers (Note: The drone may not be pushed and must be lifted using a third motor in order for teams to receive these points.) Rescue the explorer from Australia Objective: This task requires teams to retrieve the explorer from Australia and deliver the explorer to the Great Wall of China. +40 points for delivering explorer (standing upright) within 4 inches of the Great Wall of China OR +20 points for delivering explorer (not standing) within 4 inches of the Great Wall of China Deliver plant life to Denali Objective: Teams will retrieve the plant life from the Amazon and place it inside of a cart that the teams bring to the competition. The cart along with the plant life must be taken to the white box that represents Denali in Alaska. +10 points for retrieving the plant life located in the Amazon and delivering it to home base +10 points for processing the plant life (placing it inside a delivery cart of the team s design, plant life can be reconfigured if necessary) +50 points for delivering the plant life inside of a cart to the white box located at Denali on the competition mat - The cart must be touching the white box. The cart design is up to the team. No points will be given if the plant life is delivered outside of a cart or if the cart does not contain any plant life. Ending position of the robot Objective: End the round with the bot in the white box at Victoria Falls. +10 points for the robot ending in the correct location - at least one drive wheel must be touching the white box at Victoria Falls. Touch Penalties -5 points for each time that the robot is touched outside of home base (There will be a maximum of 5 touch penalties.) Bonus +1 point per every second under the 1 minute and 30 seconds time limit IF all tasks are successfully completed to the highest point possible for that task *Note: For Round 1, teams may perform the following tasks in any order except the ending location ( must be performed last ). It is up to the team to choose the strategy that will maximize its points RARC Competition 3 - Elementary Division Guidelines - Page 6

7 Items Needed for Competition Plant Life Explorer Set of legs (x1) Upper-body (x1) Head (x1) Great Wall of China Height of 3.5 (± 0.25) inches and a length of 6 inches The board will be placed inside the white rectangular box that represents the Great Wall of China with the long side of the board parallel to the long side of the box RARC Competition 3 - Elementary Division Guidelines - Page 7

8 Drone RARC Competition 3 - Elementary Division Guidelines - Page 8

9 Elementary School Field Layout The competition mat can be purchased through StickersBanners.com. More information on ordering mats can be found on the RARC website at Note: The letters, words, arrows do not appear in the actual mat and are only being used to help describe the challenge RARC Competition 3 - Elementary Division Guidelines - Page 9

10 **For Round 1, teams may perform the following tasks in any order with the exception of the ending location. The starting location for the beginning of play is home base.** Round 1 Collect a drone from the Chichen Itza and deliver it to the Valley of the Geysers Objective: This task requires teams to retrieve a drone from Chichen Itza using a third motor to lift it off the mat surface and deliver it to the Valley of the Geysers. +25 points for collecting the drone +100 points for delivering the drone inside the white box at the Valley of the Geysers (Note: The drone may not be pushed; it must be lifted using a third motor in order for teams to receive these points.) Rescue the explorer from Australia Objective: This task requires teams to retrieve the explorer from Australia and deliver the explorer to the Great Wall of China. The explorer should be 4 inches away from the wall at the end of the round. +40 points for delivering the explorer (standing upright) within 4 inches of the Great Wall of China OR +20 points for delivering the explorer (not standing) within 4 inches of the Great Wall of China Deliver plant life to Denali Objective: Teams will retrieve the plant life from the Amazon and place it inside of a cart that the teams bring to the competition. It is up to the team as to what design they will use for the cart. The cart along with the plant life must be taken to the white box that represents Denali in Alaska. +10 points for retrieving the plant life located in the Amazon and delivering it to home base +10 points for processing the plant life (placing it inside a delivery cart of the team s design, plant life can be reconfigured if necessary) +50 points for delivering the plant life inside of a cart to the white box located at Denali on the competition mat. The cart must be touching the white box. The cart design is up to the team. No points will be given if the plant life is delivered outside of a cart or if the cart does not contain any plant life. Ending position of the robot Objective: End the round with the bot in the white box at Victoria Falls. +10 points for ending in the correct location - at least one drive wheel must be touching the white box at Victoria Falls. Touch Penalties -5 points for each time that the robot is touched outside of home base (There will be a maximum of 5 touch penalties.) Bonus +1 point per every second under the minute and 30 seconds time limit IF all tasks are successfully completed to the highest point possible for that task *Note: For Round 1, teams may perform the following tasks in any order except the ending location ( must be performed last ). It is up to the team to choose the strategy that will maximize its points RARC Competition 3 - Elementary Division Guidelines - Page 10

11 Round 2 Mystery Challenge Objective: To showcase your robotic skills! Teams will be given a mystery challenge on the day of competition after round 1. It will then be up to only you and your team to program your bot to successfully complete the mystery challenge. The challenge will utilize skills that you have already used or could have used to successfully complete this year's RARC competitions. Examples of skill are the following: Forward/backward movement Use of ultrasonic and/or touch sensor Turning Stopping and starting Use of loops and switches Reading a map Collecting objects Builds The above list is NOT an inclusive list of skills. Teams will need to have the ability to complete the mystery challenge WITHOUT the aid of an adult. Coaches will not be allowed to interact with any students face-to-face or via electronic communication during the mystery challenge. Additionally, each team is responsible for its own programming, and teams may not share programs. Teams will be given time to program their bots and participate in ONE round RARC Competition 3 - Elementary Division Guidelines - Page 11

12 Teacher Resources for Additional Learning RARC Competition 3 - Elementary Division Guidelines - Page 12

13 Overall Competition Scoring Scores: Robotics performance component 500 points possible for Round 1, not including the bonus, and Round 2 Tie: Time will be used as the deciding factor. In the event that multiple top teams (1 st 3 rd ) have the same scores and time, a tiebreaker robotics performance round will be conducted between those teams that have the same scores in order to appropriately place each team. Tips for Success! Teams should read all of the rules prior to starting preparation for the competition. Students can use the robot educator part of the software to see walkthroughs about different aspects of programming the robots as well as building tips. Teams should assign jobs to the students, and students should be aware of their respective roles when they go to the mat. Teams should not wait until the last minute to go to the mat; this increases the chance of teams underperforming due to stress. Teams should break the board in zones and look at which tasks are located in each zone and the difficulty of each task. Keep in mind that just because tasks are located in the same area of the field does not mean that teams should attempt to do them together; it might be better to do another task to get more points or easier points prior to attempting a task. Look at the obstacles on the field. Think about how they can affect the movement/path of your robot. A bot that looks cool may not perform as well as a robot that does not have a great appearance. Don t think about using the most amount of space in the home base but rather whether the robot design/structure will actually help you perform the tasks. Some teams get carried away with the size, and their bots become impractical. Teams should not use the edge of the mat since the tape used to secure the mat to the floor can affect how the robot and game pieces behave. Speed and accuracy are inverse of each other, i.e., the faster you do something the more likely you are to mess it up. It is a good idea to start slowly and then increase speed as you practice your missions. This will let you find a balance between speed and accuracy. Practice, practice, practice the tasks until you have the right strategy! RARC Competition 3 - Elementary Division Guidelines - Page 13

14 Thank you to the RARC partners: and all of the RARC committee members RARC Competition 3 - Elementary Division Guidelines - Page 14