Escape From ENGINEERING ISLAND KU High School Design Lego Mindstorms October 25, 2016
Competition Summary Teams will need to design, build, and program a survival vehicle using a Lego Mindstorms EV3 or NXT 2.0 kit. The vehicle s task will be to escape the blast radius of a volcanic explosion while safely rescuing island inhabitants in a variety of island terrain. There are three rescue zones, each with different terrain, that the survival vehicle must visit to pick up the islanders. The rescues will become progressively more difficult. You have three minutes to rescue the inhabitants and get them to the shore to escape the island. At the end of the three minutes, lava will reach the shore ending your chances of survival. The vehicle will need to perform these tasks autonomously, with no external influences from the team members. Scores will be determined by the number rescue zones navigated through, the number of inhabitants saved, and the success level of the escape. Official Rules The Vehicle: Teams will build their vehicle using parts from a single Lego Mindstorms EV3 or NXT 2.0 kit, plus one additional light sensor (Lego Shop item 9844 compatible with both the EV3 and NXT bricks, although it must be programmed as a raw sensor block for the EV3). Vehicles will be subject to an inspection on the day of competition, and any additional motors or sensors may warrant disqualification. Other additional parts are allowed as long as they are not electronic. For example, parts such as rubber bands may be used. The Arena: A visual diagram of the arena is provided at the end of this document. The arena will be in a rectangular shape of approximately 3x5 feet. However, be aware that while the design is to scale, the exact measurements of the arena could be subject to change before competition day. The vehicle will start on the left side of the arena, near the volcanic eruption, and will travel toward the shore on the right side of the arena. The black line is the path the vehicle should follow to successfully rescue the island s inhabitants and get to the shore. The arena is flat with the exception of terrain challenges that will be present in the rescue zones which will consist of small walls the island inhabitants are taking shelter behind (dimensions of which will be released soon). The Challenge: Each team will be allowed three separate rounds to attempt the challenge. After the teams get to the Mindstorms room after opening ceremonies the teams will be allowed 15 minutes before any testing rounds start. Within each round, the vehicle will have 3 minutes to navigate through the rescue zones, save the inhabitants, and reach the escape zone. 15 seconds will be allowed to set up the vehicle in the arena before the 3 minutes to complete the task starts. The vehicle will start at the semicircle outside of rescue zone 1 and follow the green line to reach checkpoint 1. Getting to each checkpoint is worth points. After the first checkpoint the vehicle must still follow the black line and should start collecting the inhabitants (which will be located in the checkpoints). The first obstacle the
vehicle will face lies just before the location checkpoint 2 (the obstacles will be described below). After passing around the obstacle the vehicle will need to find the black line, reach checkpoint 2, and collect the inhabitant. After checkpoint 2 the vehicle should continue on the black line towards checkpoint 3. To access checkpoint 3 the vehicle will need to pass around another obstacle. After checkpoint 3, the vehicle should continue following the black line to the escape zone. A checkpoint is considered reached when the entire vehicle is in the checkpoint. Inhabitants are standard Lego men. Obstacles are made of solid blocks of wood, 4 inches in length and 1 inch in width. The first obstacle is 1 block, placed sideways along the path that the vehicle must go around to continue along the black line. The second obstacle consists of three blocks of wood, with the same dimensions as noted above, and they surround the third checkpoint on three sides. The obstacles are colored red on the diagram. To escape the island, the escape zone must be reached within three minutes. The moment the vehicle enters the escape zone, the challenge will be considered completed and no more points will be awarded. This means that all three inhabitants will need to be carried, dragged, or pushed all together to the escape zone to earn max points. The vehicle s task is to navigate through the rescue zones, save the inhabitants and reach the escape zone. All of this must be completed before the 3 minute limit is over. Anything that the vehicle does after the 3 minutes will not count towards the score. The same applies for once the vehicle enters the escape zone. After 3 minutes the scorer will determine and record the team s score for that round. Rankings will be determined based on a team s highest individual round score. Between rounds of competition, teams will be allowed 10 minutes to make repairs and to modify the vehicle s design and/or program. Teams must be ready to begin their next round at the announced start time. If they are not ready, the scorer may start the 3:00 timer before the vehicle actually enters the course. Scoring: Teams will be awarded points based on checkpoints reached, keys gotten to the safe and escaping. Checkpoints: Checkpoint 1 Checkpoint 2 Security zone 3 (Checkpoint 3) Points for Reaching Each Checkpoint 20 20 20
order. Note: A deduction of 10 points will be taken for each checkpoint skipped or entered out of This results in the following points based on the order the checkpoints are reached (1 stands for Checkpoint 1 etc.) Order the checkpoints are reached Net score earned for checkpoints 1 20 2 10 3 0 1,2 40 1,3 30 2,1 20 2,3 20 3,1 10 3,2 0 1,2,3 60 1,3,2 40 2,1,3 40 2,3,1 30 3,1,2 20 3,2,1 10 Zones: Points per zone entered 10
Inhabitants: Points per inhabitant gotten to Escape zone *3 inhabitants total 10 Obstacles: An obstacle is successfully navigated if mindstorm vehicle successfully locates the black line again after encountering obstacle. Points per obstacle successfully navigated through *2 obstacles total 20 Point deductions will be made for any incident requiring an outside influence from team members. If the vehicle exits the course boundaries, a team member must place it back at the last checkpoint the vehicle was at. A deduction of 5 points will be applied for each time this occurs. Alternatively, the vehicle may experience an irrevocable malfunction within the boundaries (for example, the vehicle may tip over and be unable to move). If the appointed scorer determines that an outside influence is necessary for the vehicle to continue toward its goal, then a team member may correct the issue with the minimum influence possible. A deduction of 3 points will be applied for each time this occurs. Other than these incidents, the vehicle must be entirely autonomous, and any unnecessary influence from a team member may result in a disqualification. At the end of a team s round, the point totals will be calculated by an appointed scorer. A team s score will be the sum of the checkpoints reached, keys taken to the safe, and score from the escape minus any deductions. The scorer will then report the team s score to a central database. Teams will be ranked by their highest individual round score from the three rounds of competition. Ties will be broken by using the second highest score from the three rounds, and then the third.
Diagram: