RARC Competition 1 - Middle School Division Guidelines - Page 1

2015-2016 RARC Competition 1 - Middle School Division Guidelines - Page 1

The Wonders of the World 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 first adventure will take your team to Victoria Falls, the Great Barrier Reef, and Niagara Falls. Before you leave on your adventure, you ll need to test the speed and stamina of your vehicle for such a lengthy journey by racing from home base to Greenland and back. Victoria Falls in southern Africa is the largest waterfall in the world and was originally known as Mosi-oa-Tunya or the smoke that thunders. It became known as Victoria Falls in 1855 when Dr. David Livingstone, a Scottish missionary and explorer, renamed the waterfall in honor of Queen Victoria. Dr. Livingstone explored southern and central Africa extensively and was so highly regarded that a statue of him can be found on the Zimbabwe side of Victoria Falls. However, the placement of the statue on the Zimbabwe side of the falls rather than the Zambia side has caused conflict, and the statue has even been damaged. Your team is asked to bring the statue to Antarctica for refurbishment and for possible duplication. The Great Barrier Reef is the world s largest coral reef and is the largest living structure on the planet. In fact, it is larger than the Great Wall of China and is the only living thing on Earth that is visible from outer space. Unfortunately, five years ago a bulk coal carrier ran aground, caused a grounding scar on the reef that is almost two miles long, and spilled oil that is still affecting the reef today. Your teams is responsible for building and delivering a raft filled with supplies to the Great Barrier Reef where a team of marine biologists is studying reduced photosynthesis, growth, and reproduction. Niagara Falls is comprised of three waterfalls: Horseshoe Falls, American Falls, and Bridal Falls. The falls are located on the international border between the United States and Canada. They are beautiful to see and several people have even tried to see them up close and personal by going over the falls in barrels. In addition to being a Wonder of the World, Niagara Falls helps generate some of the least expense electricity anywhere through hydroelectricity. Your team is asked to deliver supplies to civil engineers at Niagara Falls who are working on a plan to increase the falls hydroelectric generating capacity. Adventure Awaits! 2015-2016 RARC Competition 1 - Middle School Division Guidelines - Page 2

Rules and Regulations Competition General Rules There will be two challenges on competition day, and Challenge #1 and Challenge #2 must both be completed during the same visit to the mat. Teams will be allowed two rounds and only the best score of the two rounds will be used for overall competition awards. The score for each round is cumulative meaning teams may not use the score from Challenge #1 during Round 1 and the score for Challenge #2 for Round 2 or vice versa. 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 the top score out of each round will be used. Only student team members are allowed in robotics challenge areas. Team members must ensure that they do not block the judges 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 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 at http://www.nicerc.org/events/rarc/coaches/questions/. The committee will then meet to clarify and make a final decision on the rules. These clarifications/decisions will be posted in the Competition Questions tab of the Coaches page. Please monitor the webpage for updated guidelines and clarifying questions. 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. 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. 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. The mats may not lose their waviness even if rolled out ahead of time at the competition location. 2015-2016 RARC Competition 1 - Middle School Division Guidelines - Page 3

Before Play 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. 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 members 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 2 minutes from when the judge announces GO to complete as many of the challenge tasks as possible. The round continues until the 2 minutes 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. 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. 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 pages 5 & 6 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. 2015-2016 RARC Competition 1 - Middle School Division Guidelines - Page 4

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. 2015-2016 RARC Competition 1 - Middle School Division Guidelines - Page 5

Scoring Sheet Team Name Mat A B C D E F G H Round 1 2 Travel from Home Base to Greenland and back - TEAMS MUST PERFORM CHALLENGE #1 BEFORE CHALLENGE #2 Objective: Test the speed of your robot by traveling from home base to Greenland and back in 30 seconds or less. Teams will start with 50 points at the start of this challenge. Every second a team uses to complete this challenge will be subtracted from the starting number of points. The final score will be the result of 50 starting points - run time. For example, if Jones Elementary 1 completes the challenge in 15 seconds, the team will be awarded 35 points (50-15= 35). Teams will be disqualified from this task if at least one robot wheel does not touch the white box on Greenland or if one or more robot wheels go off the mat. The robot must have at least one wheel touching the white box located on Greenland and then return to home base in order for the judge to score the run. If a team touches the robot after it leaves home base and before returning to home base then teams will receive zero points for this task. Teams only have one chance to complete this task during each round. TEAMS MAY PERFORM THE FOLLOWING TASKS IN ANY ORDER WITH THE EXCEPTION OF THE ENDING LOCATION. Retrieve Clue From Compass Objective: Gather the clue located on the compass and bring it to home base to learn the correct ending location, which will be either Machu Picchu or the Coliseum. +10 points for retrieving the clue from the compass and bringing it to home base Retrieve Statue in Africa and Deliver to Antarctica Objective: Take the statue of Dr. Livingstone from Victoria Falls in Africa to Antarctica for refurbishment and possible duplication. Points will be awarded based on final position of the statue. +50 points for the statue being taken to the determined quadrant as determined by the judge (A1, A2, A3 or A4) in an upright (standing) position. -10 for the statue being knocked over in the sideways or sitting position. Statue position will be noted where the base of the statue is located. Deliver Raft of Supplies to Great Barrier Reef in Australia Objective: Build a raft holding supplies according to the specifications on page 7 and deliver it six inches away from the block at the Great Barrier Reef in Australia to aid in research by marine biologists. +10 points for building the raft holding supplies according to the specifications while at the mat. The pieces will be provided in a bin at or near home base. Please know that extra LEGO pieces will be mixed in with the raft pieces. +50 points for delivering the correctly built raft six inches from the block located at the oil spill site at the Great Barrier Reef as indicated by three black lines on the competition mat. The block will have a height of 3.5 (± 0.25) inches in height and a width of 1.5 (± 0.25) inches (2 x 4 wooden board). Note that the exact placement will not be known until the judge randomly sets the wall down at the start of the round. Deliver Engineering Equipment to Niagara Falls in North America Objective: Assemble engineering equipment according to the specifications on page 8 and deliver it to the civil engineering team at Niagara Falls. +10 points for assembling the equipment according to the specifications while at the mat. The pieces will be provided in a bin at or near home base. Please know that extra LEGO pieces will be mixed in with the engineering equipment pieces. +50 points for delivering the correctly assembled equipment to the white box located at Niagara Falls on the competition mat. The equipment must be touching the white box. 2015-2016 RARC Competition 1 - Middle School Division Guidelines - Page 6

(Scoring Sheet continued on next Page) Ending position of the robot Objective: The robot finishes and stops at the geographic location indicated by the latitude and longitude clue in the compass. +40 points for having your team s robot finish at the location indicated in the clue on the compass. At least one drive wheel (wheels attached to a motor and used to drive robot) of the robot must be touching the white box at the ending location. 0 points for having your team s robot finish at the alternate location. Bonus Objective: The robot performs all tasks successfully in less than the allotted time. +1 point per every second under the two minute time limit IF all tasks are successfully completed. ( For example, Jones Middle 1 completes all tasks in 1:30 seconds. This team will receive a 30 point bonus. Smith Middle 5 completes all tasks but delivers Dr. Livingston to the wrong location on the mat. This team would not receive the bonus as all tasks were not successfully completed.) Touch Penalties -5 points for touching the robot outside of home base or for at least one drive wheel of the robot leaving the playing field at any time during the round. Touch penalties will be limited to a maximum number of -50 points per round. *Note: Challenge #1 (travel to and from Greenland) must be finished first, and the ending position of the robot in Challenge #2 must be finished last. The remaining tasks do not have to be accomplished in a certain order as the judges will only score the end state of the field. It is up to the team to choose the strategy that will maximize its points. 2015-2016 RARC Competition 1 - Middle School Division Guidelines - Page 7

Items Needed for Competition Raft and Supplies Step 1: Step 2: Step 3: Step 4: Statue of Dr. Livingstone Standard LEGO miniature figure. Set of legs (x1) Upper-body (x1) Head (x1) Hat or hair (x1) Clue Holder at Compass 1 inch PVC Schedule 40 Coupler. Official clue holders will be bought at the Home Depot SKU#188-085. A label clue, made using a Dymo LetraTag label maker, will be located on the inside portion of the coupler. The ending location clue will contain the latitude and longitude of the location. 2015-2016 RARC Competition 1 - Middle School Division Guidelines - Page 8

Engineering Equipment 7 m beam (black) (x2) 7m beam (gray) (x1) Snap 90 degree angular beam (x4) Gear wheel z24(x2)7m Items Needed for Competition Block at Great Barrier Reef Building Instructions for Engineering Equipment: Step 1: Step 2: Step 3: Step 4: The block will have a height of 3.5 (± 0.25) inches in height and a width of 1.5 (± 0.25) inches and a length of 6 inches (A piece of a 2 x 4 wooden board) Link to video build: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cc1ydf7hsxw 2015-2016 RARC Competition 1 - Middle School Division Guidelines - Page 9

Field Layout The competition mat can be purchased through StickersBanners.com. More information on ordering mats can be found on the RARC website at http://www.nicerc.org/pages/competitionmats/. Note: The letters, words, red circles do not appear in the actual mat and are only being used to help describe the challenge. Natural wonder locations are not accurate to real-life longitude and latitude locations. 2015-2016 RARC Competition 1 - Middle School Division Guidelines - Page 10

Challenge #1 - TEAMS MUST PERFORM CHALLENGE #1 BEFORE CHALLENGE #2 Travel from Home Base to Greenland and back Objective: Test the speed of your robot by traveling from home base to Greenland and back Teams have 30 seconds to complete this challenge and to be in home base ready to begin Challenge #2. Teams will start with 50 points at the start of this challenge. Every second a team uses to complete this challenge will be subtracted from the starting number of points. The final score will be the result of 50 starting points - run time. For example, if Jones Elementary 1 completes the challenge in 15 seconds, the team will be awarded 35 points (50-15= 35). Teams will be disqualified if one wheel of their robots do not touch the white box on Greenland or if one or more robot wheels go off the mat. Teams will be disqualified if they touch their robot before it returns to home base. Challenge #2 - TEAMS MAY PERFORM THE FOLLOWING TASKS IN ANY ORDER WITH THE EXCEPTION OF THE ENDING LOCATION. Retrieve Clue From Compass Objective: Gather the clue located on the compass and bring it to home base to learn the correct ending location, which will be will be either Machu Picchu or the Coliseum. +10 points for retrieving the clue from the compass and bringing it to home base Retrieve Statue in Africa and Deliver to Antarctica Objective: Take the statue of Dr. Livingstone from Victoria Falls in Africa to Antarctica for refurbishment and possible duplication. Teams will only receive points if they deliver the statue to the correct quadrant. +50 points for the statue being taken to the determined quadrant as determined by the judge. The judge will randomly draw a card at the start of play. The card will indicate the quadrant where the statute must be delivered (A1, A2, A3, or A4 on mat diagram). -10 for the statue being knocked over in the sideways position or sitting position. Statue position will be noted where the base of the statue is located. Deliver Raft of Supplies to Great Barrier Reef in Australia Objective: Build a raft holding supplies according to the specifications on page 8 and deliver it to the Great Barrier Reef in Australia to aid in research by marine biologists. +10 points for building the raft holding supplies according to the specifications while at the mat. The pieces will be provided in a bin at or near home base. Please know that extra LEGO pieces will be mixed in with the raft pieces. +50 points for delivering the correctly built raft six inches from the block at the oil spill location at the Great Barrier Reef as indicated by the three black lines on the diagram. The block will have a height of 3.5 (± 0.25) inches in height and a width of 1.5 (± 0.25) inches (2 x 4 wooden board). Note that the exact placement will not be known until the judge randomly sets the wall down at the start of the round. Deliver Engineering Equipment to Niagara Falls in North America Objective: Assemble engineering equipment according to the specifications on page 9 and deliver it to the civil engineering team at Niagara Falls. +10 points for assembling the equipment according to the specifications while at the mat. The pieces will be provided in a bin at or near home base. Please know that extra LEGO pieces will be mixed in with the engineering equipment pieces. 2015-2016 RARC Competition 1 - Middle School Division Guidelines - Page 11

+50 points for delivering the correctly assembled equipment to the white box located at Niagara Falls on the competition mat. The equipment must be touching the white box. Ending position of the robot Objective: The robot finishes and stops at the geographic location indicated by the latitude and longitude clue in the compass. +40 points for having your team s robot finish at the location indicated in the clue on the compass. At least one drive wheel (wheels attached to a motor and used to drive robot) of the robot must be touching the white box at the ending location. 0 points for having your team s robot finish at the alternate location. Bonus Objective: The robot performs all tasks successfully in less than the allotted time. +1 point per every second under the two minute time limit IF all tasks are successfully completed. ( For example, Jones Middle 1 completes all tasks in 1:30 seconds. This team will receive a 30 point bonus. Smith Middle 5 completes all tasks but delivers Dr. Livingston to the wrong location on the mat. This team would not receive the bonus as all tasks were not successfully completed.) Resources for Additional Learning Read a first-hand account of Dr. Livingstone s discovery of the falls in the document entitled Victoria Falls, Resource 1. http://www.victoriafalls-guide.net/facts-on-victoria-falls.html# http://www.greatbarrierreef.com.au/information/for-kids/ http://www.esa.int/our_activities/observing_the_earth/earth_from_space_the_great_barrier_reef http://www.eia.gov/kids/energy.cfm?page=hydropower_home-basics http://www.fplsafetyworld.com/?ver=kkblue&utilid=fplforkids&id=16180 http://www.smithsonianchannel.com/videos/niagara-falls/14388 http://geography.mrdonn.org/latitude.html 2015-2016 RARC Competition 1 - Middle School Division Guidelines - Page 12

Overall Competition Scoring Scores: Robotics performance component = 240-269 points possible (not including the bonus) depending on time elapsed during Challenge #1 (highest out of the two rounds) 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 missions until you have the right strategy! 2015-2016 RARC Competition 1 - Middle School Division Guidelines - Page 13

Thank you to the RARC partners: and all of the RARC committee members 2015-2016 RARC Competition 1 - Middle School Division Guidelines - Page 14