"Pirates!" - Background
NITRO TRS Challenge 1
Arrr, Matey! Welcome aboard, all ye landlubbers! We�ll be searching for buried treasure, hidden somewhere on a deserted island somewhere off the coast of Jamaica. However, since we�re all afraid of getting sunburns, we�ll be sending robots to find our treasure. The loot is hidden somewhere on the island, and we only have one map telling us the way to find it. We�re gonna have to work fast, because there are rival pirates looking for the same treasure. We can�t let those bilge rats get to our treasure!
Here is a map we found of the island. We have to build a robot that can successfully find the treasure on its own while avoiding the obstacles. Speed is key, but more so is accuracy. Remember that we will need to find out how fast our robot moves in order to make sure the timings are correct. And we only get 3 tries. We need to build our robot using motors only, there will be no use of touch sensors or light sensors allowed. The robot that stops closest to the X, gets the treasure. We need to work fast. Time is running out.
"Pirates!" � Rules and Regulations
NITRO TRS Challenge 1
Arrr�! Arrrrr� is for �Rules and Regulations�. And there arrrrr a set of rules we pirates need to follow for the following mission:
- 1 RCX allowed per team
- 2 motors allowed per team
- 2 wires allowed per team
- 6 AA batteries given per team � a good idea is to bring more on race day
- NO touch sensors
- NO light sensor
- NO rotation sensor
- Robot must be made completely from LEGO parts
- Robot must be completely autonomous
- Robot must be able to move under its own power
- Anybody caught using the LEGO Remote will be made to walk the plank
- Robot must fit inside a 30cm x 30cm x 30cm cube
- There must be a line of code that makes the robot beep at the end
- There will be a special prize for the most well-annotated code
On competition day, lots will be drawn to determine which robot goes first. The lucky owners of the robot will:
- Line up their robot at the staring line, pointing in any direction
- Turn the RCX on
- Set the RCX to the correct program
- Call the judge (Frank) over to start
- Judge will press the RUN button and the stopwatch at the same time
- Nobody will be allowed to touch the robot after the judge lets go
- The team has a total of 1 RESTART for the competition, if called, the judge stops the robot, and allows the team to restart at the starting line, WITHOUT any program changes
- When the run is over, and the robot indicates this by beeping, its end position will be recorded
- Next team gets ready at the starting ling
- The first team is now allowed to make programming changes while the other teams make their runs
- If you are not at the starting position when called, we will wait 2 minutes. When the time is up, your run is disqualified (no time)
- After all teams have had 3 runs, best times are taken
- Most accurate robot wins
- If there is a tie within 5 cm from the X, faster robot wins
Winning team receives the treasure and goes on to fame and fortune. The other teams can sail away into the sunset, sighing heavily.
This challenge was quite difficult, and all teams required a few tries befure their robots got anywhere. However, after a few program changes, they managed to work out all the bugs in the timings, and got very close to the X. Team 2 had some problems with their robot, because it kept stalling in the middle of the course. The other two teams amazed us by making a few very accurate runs, which ended up less than 10cm away from the X.
1st Place: Team 1, Kaela's team (3 successful runs)
2nd Place: Team 3, Vedant's team (2 successful runs)
3rd Place: Team 2, Tagore's team (NO successful runs)
Most Accurate Programming Award: Vedant (3 program changes only)
Worst Robot Award: Tagore ("Why don't the gear stay on?")
Most Enthusiastic Award: Jatin (Revamped the program by himself)
Thanks for competing. Better luck next time, guys.