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MAECraft Robotics
MAECraft Robotics
MAE3 Fall 2014
MAE3 Fall 2014
image from: www.gamespot.com
Contest Description:
The Minecraft video game has over 100 million registered users, and allows players to mine for resources and build what ever they like. This quarter MAE3 students will compete in a Minecraft inspired challenge and build actual robots to mine and craft! There will be mine shafts of iron ore with a few treasured diamonds on the playing field. Each team will build robots that will extract these resources from the mine shafts and build their structures. The goal is to build the highest structures with double points for diamonds.
Playing Field at Start of Contest
Playing Field:
The playing field will be split into two halves with 3 mine shafts on each side. The end zone of each side will contain the building area. Each robot will start in a designated 10x10x10in starting area. Once the contest begins, teams will mine resources (ore) from any of six resource (ore) dispensers. Students will place their ore into their own building area to score points. At the end of the 60 second contest, the quantity, type, and the height of the ore in the building area will determine the team's final score (see scoring section)
Resources and Resource Dispensers:
There are two types of ore, iron (grey) and diamond (white). Teams will mine ore from any of six mine shafts. They will be five ore in each dispenser, the top most will always be diamond:
Scoring:
Students will attempt to stack as many ore as high as possible in their building area. There are two types of ore, diamond and iron. Diamond is worth twice as many points as iron.
Towers Crafted in Building Area
The higher the block, the more points it is worth. The first row is worth 1 point each, second row 2 points, third row 3 points, etc... Remember, Diamonds are worth twice as much points!
Examples:
Stacking Rules: UPDATED
A first row box must:
o Have at least one part of it touching the floor inside the building area.
A second row box must:
o Be touching a box from row 1
o Have at least one part of it inside the building area.
o It lowest point must be at least 1.5 inches high
A nth row box must (see point table at bottom of document):
o Be touching a box from row n-1
o Have at least one part of it inside the building area.
o It lowest point must be at least 3(n-1.5) inches high
What is allowed:
• Boxes can touch robot parts, be held insde robot parts, Note, boxes cannot be damaged
• Boxes can be partially outside the building area.
General MAE3 Competition rules:
A complete list of rules is provided at the end of this document, and any clarifications to the rules will be posted at the end of this webpage throughout the quarter. However, some key rules are:
Robot setup time on the contest table cannot exceed 2 minutes.
Manufacturing variations will exist between playing fields. It is the team's responsibility to design a robot that will work on all contest tables.
The robots will be arbitrarily assigned to start in either the right or left starting areas.
Each robot must only be built out of kit parts provided.
Robots must be built in the Design Studio only using Design Studio tools.
The disassembled robot must be able to fit in the team's locker, where it must be stored.
Robots may be designed to interact. However, it is not in the spirit of the competition to intentionally damage another machine and no part of the kit may be used in a manner that is intended to cause harm. Any device which is designed to chop, break, or penetrate another machine will not be allowed to compete. If you think your machine may be at risk for violating this rule, ask early before you build it!
Applying forces onto an opposing team’s robot that are large enough to break plastic pasts, while the opposing robot is in its starting area, will be deemed to be intentional harm to an opponent and can lead to disqualification.
However, blocking other robots or pushing other robots while attempting to score will generally be considered legal.
Robots will compete in a head-to-head competition. However, operation of the robot without an opponent will be an important part of the robot grade.
Electrical Power
The robots must be powered solely from electrical power transferred through the power cord, and from potential energy stored in the robot at the start of the contest. The kit includes 2 geared DC motors, 3 non-geared DC motors, and one solenoid. Electrical power will be provided from a power supply with a maximum of 5VDC output. The power will be controlled by the following switches:
Two Fixed 5 Volts DC switches
Two Variable Voltage switches (0 to 5VDC) with a user controlled knob to adjust the voltage.
Each switch is Double Pole Double Throw (DPDT) switches, which can operate a DC motor in either direction. Note the kit contains five DC motors and one solenoid, but only four user controlled switches. More than one electrical device can be connected to a single switch, but the voltage may drop if a large current draw is placed on the power supply. Use of motors, solenoids, and switches will be covered in lecture and is described in the course pack.
Review the Power Supply and Multimeter Use carefully. Issues with the electrical power often occur with the Variable Voltage switches, since the maximum current output is less in these switches. The non-geared motors draw high current and startup problems may occur if multiple non-geared motors with high loads are tied to the variable voltage source!
Kit Parts and Use Guidelines
Each machine must be constructed solely from materials provided in the Kit Parts list (List attached below). Some key points on these guidelines are:
No foamcore in final robot (as stated in kit parts list).
The wire and string are serve your self, but are limited in length as noted.
The paper cover on the acrylic parts is not to be used as a separate part. If it is detached from the acrylic it must be discarded.
In addition to the kit parts listed in the table, the following items may be included in the machine:
Nuts, bolts, and washers included in the Design Studio bin. These include bolts from size 2 to size 10, and metric screws for mounting the motors.
Only take nuts and bolts from the bin as you need them, and search through the spare bolt bin before taking more (we went through $1,500 in fasteners last year!)
Adhesives; including hot melt glue, and acrylic adhesive.
Tape used ONLY for electrical insulation
Lubricants used only to reduce friction within one's machine (not on the contest table).
Nonfunctional decorations.
Replacement Material Policy
We have some extra material that can be used for experimentation. This material will be made available in the lab scrap bins. In addition each section tutor has access to a limited amount of replacement material for their section. If you need replacement parts, contact your tutor. Some replacement of "mistakes" made to kit parts will be available, but supplies are limited, and replacement is not guaranteed.
Contest Event Description
The contest will be held during the MAE finals period and will be open to the public. The contest will be held in a single elimination fashion (like a tennis tournament). During the lab period of the last week of classes, each section will hold a section-wide contest. The results of this contest will be used to seed the placement of the final contest. Thus teams that perform better during their section contest will have statistically easier contests in the early rounds. Since the number of teams in the class will not be exactly a power of 2, the higher seeded teams may get a "buy" during the first round. If necessary "wild card" teams will be selected to have a second chance in the contest, to ensure that all pyramid spots are filled.
Performance in the contest depends on numerous factors that do not relate to engineering quality of the robot, including driving skill and luck! The grade for the project will not be adversely affected by poor performance in the contest, but will be based upon:
Performance of the machine without an opponent. A video record of the robot performance at its best should be the team's oral presentation.
Effective communication of the design (orally and in final reports).
Documentation of the design process and justification of decisions made.
Analysis of machine performance in the robot reports.
Following good design practices.
A trophy will be presented to each member of the winning teams, and a number of machines will be selected for display in the Design Studio. Team members must work out among themselves who will keep the final machine (after their display period). Teams will post presentations and video of their robot on the class web page, which they can cherish forever.
Expanded Rules List
Only the tools and machine equipment in the Design Studio can be used to build the robot.
Energy Sources: The energy used by the devices in the competition must come solely from:
Potential energy derived through a change in altitude of the center of gravity of the machine
Potential energy achieved by the deformation of the springs provided by the Kit
Electrical energy derived through the umbilical during the 60 seconds when the power supply is energized.
Umbilical Cables: The electrical connections will made to a single umbilical cord hung from above the table; one on each side of the table. The umbilical cord cannot be touched during the contest, and there will be some drag from the cable. Each machine must be designed to overcome this drag if necessary for motion of the machine. If requested a TA can ensure that the umbilical cable does not snag.
Detailed Rules
Judges and/or instructors will disqualify any device that appears to be a safety hazard.
Any machine that has flying parts must notify opponents, and all contestants must wear safety glasses during the machine operation.
If a projectile is used, for reasons of safety, it must have a frontal area greater than 2 inch squared.
Contestants will randomly be assigned to start on either side of the playing field.
A maximum set-up time of 2 minutes will be allowed at the contest table.
A maximum of 1 minute will be allowed for removal of all parts of each machine after each contest.
Operators may interact with their machine during a contest only through normal operation of the switch boxes (for example you cannot touch the machine with one's hands during operation).
It is allowable to adjust the configuration of the machine between contests; for example adjusting the configuration to the side of the playing field the machine starts on.
Each machine can only interact with the surface of the playing field and objects on the playing field.
The judges will wait until all the playing pieces have stopped moving before determining the winner.
Points will be awarded based upon the final location of the playing pieces, regardless of which machine moved them.
A playing piece will be declared out-of-bounds if it is off the playing field.
Damaging the playing field or the control boxes may result in disqualification.
Purposefully using the electrical cables for any purpose other than transmitting electricity is not allowed.
Gaining traction by use of adhesives, or by abrading or breaking the surface of the playing field is not allowed.
A machine may not contaminate with lubricant or other substance the playing field or an opponent's machine (internal lubrication of a machine is permissible).
Kit materials may not be changed chemically. DC Motors may not be rewound.
The paper that is attached to the acrylic in the kit cannot be used as a separate element in the machine. If any piece of paper is detached (even partially) from the acrylic it must be discarded.
The insulation must remain on the electrical wire in the kit except where the wire end is attached to another component, and there up to 0.5” of insulating can be removed.
The clear acrylic 0.25 thick is for testing. If you include any of this acrylic in your final machine, you must remove an equivalent amount of colored acrylic that was used in making the part.
Spare parts are available on a limited basis. Students should go to the tutors of their section to receive replacements for parts broken. Student can purchase replacement acrylic from upper campus machine shop or off campus (see door of Chris Cassidy's office for sources)
Machines may be designed to interact. However, it is not in the spirit of the competition to intentionally damage another machine and no part of the kit may be used in a manner that is intended to cause harm. Any device which is designed to chop, break, or penetrate another machine will not be allowed to compete. If you think your machine may be at risk for violating this rule, ask early before you build it! (see rule clarifications)
Machine advertisements and decorations must be of the nature that it does not offend any other students or audience participants (use common sense!).
All rulings of the judges will be final.
Rule Clarifications
Point Table
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