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Rules and Regulations
Design Competition 2005: "FOURplay"
The following rules and point system for Design Competition 2005 have been designed in order to ensure a fair, safe and entertaining competition.
The point system and variety of tasks were developed in order to provide teams with multiple options for approaching the competition. First-time competitors may choose to concentrate on simpler tasks to learn how to design and build a robot. Seasoned veterans will be able to use the knowledge they have gained in previous competitions in addition to facing new challenges.
Robot Specs
Scoring
Format
ROBOT SPECIFICATIONS
- One agent is allowed per team. The agent may break into a maximum of two components as described below.
- The agent must be autonomous (i.e. it may have no external controls).
- The agent must completely fit inside a 12-inch x 12-inch x 12-inch measuring box at the start of each match.
- The weight of the agent must not exceed 25 pounds.
- Agents are allowed to break into a maximum of two components only after the start of a match, provided that the following applies: only one starting mechanism can activate the agent at the start of a race. All of the agent's components must by physically touching at the beginning of the round.
- The agent will be checked in terms of size, weight, etc., during registration. After registration, additional modifications will be allowed only if the resulting agent does not violate any of the rules set down in this section. The head judge must be notified of any additional modifications after the initial inspection.
- Intentional contact with other robots is prohibited, and will result in disqualification for the robot that is determined to be at fault.
- The wheels of the robot are not allowed to leave the confines of the course. If any wheel touches or crosses the outermost boundary line or if any part of the robot touches the divider wall, the robot is disqualified, and the team may earn no additional points for the round.
- If a robot is disqualified, it retains any points it earned before the disqualification. However, it must immediately be removed from the course and may not earn additional points.
- Any robot that causes damage to the course will be disqualified.
- UPDATED:-Robots may touch the lane barriers. However, if a robot knocks over a barrier, the team will be disqualified for that round.
- If a team elects to remove their robot from the course before the end of the match (e.g. they determine that their robot will score no further points during the round), they may do so provided they receive permission from an official judge of the event and they do not interfere with the activities of the opposing team's robot. Any points earned before the removal of the robot will be retained by the team; however, no bonus points for completion of the course within the three-minute time limit will be awarded.
- No emissions are allowed except those normally associated with electric motors and magnetic fields. IR emissions are permitted if and only if care has been taken to ensure that they will not cause harm to participants or spectators. (This is particularly applicable to IR lasers)
- No projectiles are allowed. No object from the course may be intentionally thrown or launched by a robot. In the event of an object being launched by a robot (for the obvious benefit of the guilty party), disqualification may occur at the discretion of the head judge.
- Pressurized tanks, with the exception of compressed air, are not allowed. The use of compressed air, if opted for by a team, may not result in damage to the course or interfere with the performance of the opposing team's robot. If this is in question, disqualification will be up to the discretion of the head judge.
- No explosives are allowed.
- No flames are allowed.
- No live animals are allowed.
- The agent must not damage the course in any way. This includes damaging goals, puncturing any surfaces with screws, nails, or staples, or gluing anything to any part of the course. Unintentional damage to the course not listed above may lead to disqualification at the discretion of the judges.
- All designs are subject to a safety review by the Executive Board.
SCORING
- The team with the greatest number of points at the end of the match wins.
In the event that the two teams are tied at the end of three minutes, the agent that has traveled to the furthest phase will be chosen as the winner. In the event that both robots crossed the finish line (i.e. they traveled as far as possible), the team whose robot did so first will be selected as the winning team.
If a tie still exists, the team with the lightest robot will be deemed the winner of the match.
- Points will be awarded as follows:
a. 10 points will be awarded for picking up the object in the "Hail Mary Challenge" section (henceforth referred to as "Phase A") and carrying it at least into the "Balloon Challenge" section ("Phase B").
b. 1 point will be awarded for a robot entering into Phase B.
c. 5 points will be awarded for each balloon popped in Phase B.
d. 1 point will be awarded for a robot entering the "Velcro Challenge" section ("Phase C").
e. 5 points will be awarded for moving the tennis ball from its starting Velcro surface and onto the opposing Velcro surface of Phase C. The ball must remain attached to the surface until the end of the round. The determination of whether the ball is attached will be up to the discretion of the head judge.
f. 1 point will be awarded for entering the "Doorbell Challenge" section ("Phase D").
UPDATED:-The doorbell must be depressed to earn points.
In the event that two robots press the button at the same time (interfering
with the chime's ability to recognize both), the judgement of whether the
doorbell was depressed will be at the discretion of the head judge.
g. 5 points will be awarded for ringing the doorbell in Phase D. If a doorbell malfunction occurs, points will be awarded at the discretion of the head judge.
h. 1 point will be awarded for entering the target section for the "Hail Mary Challenge" ("Phase E").
i. At least 10-but not more than 18-points will be awarded for dropping the object from Phase A into the end-zone target in Phase E. The number of points awarded will be determined by the position of the object on the target at the end of the three-minute round. 18 points will be awarded if the object is touching the centermost region of the target at the end of the match. 10 points will be awarded if the object is touching the outermost ring. 12, 14, and 16 points will be awarded if the object is touching any of the three remaining rings, with higher point values being assigned to the rings closer to the center of the target. In the event that the object is touching more than one ring, the point value for the ring closest to the center will be awarded.
j. 10 points will be awarded for cutting the wire at the end of the competition. The wire must be completely severed in order for the points to be awarded. When any part of a robot touches the wire or crosses the finish line, time will stop. A team that runs through the wire can still earn bonus points (as outlined in
Rule 2.k) for finishing early.
UPDATED:-Robots intending to cut the wire have 10 seconds from the time the robot stops to sever the wire. Wires
cut after the 10 seconds will not count for points. The wire must be cut to earn points-- robots may not
simply run through the wire.
k. For every 15 seconds under 3 minutes that a team's robot crosses or touches the finish line, 2 points will be awarded.
- To earn points for entering a section, the entire robot must have crossed into that section.
- A team's finishing time and the number of points that it earns are not dependent upon the activities of the opposing team. For example, if Team X gets to the finish line in 2 minutes, Team Y may still earn points for the match. However, no points will be awarded after the three-minute time limit has expired.
- If a team is using multiple components, no points may be scored after any one of the components has crossed or touched the finish line.
COMPETITION FORMAT
- The competition will be run as a double elimination tournament.
- Each agent will have a one chance to navigate the course individually before the tournament begins. The score for the practice round will be recorded and used to rank the teams before the tournament begins. The barrier configuration for the practice round will be exclusive to the practice round (i.e. it will not be used during the actual competition); configuration details will be released prior to the competition.
- Teams will be seeded in the tournament bracket according to their practice round scores. In the first round, the top-seeded team will compete against the lowest-seeded team, the second highest seed vs. the second-to-last, etc. Teams that opt not to participate in the preliminary round will be seeded below those that do participate. If multiple teams elect not to participate, they will be seeded according to their registration time.
- If the number of teams is uneven, the top seed will be awarded a bye for the first round. More byes may have to be given if the number of teams is not a power of two.
- The configuration of the barriers will be determined at the start of each round. An Executive Board member will select one of the possible course configurations at random and both teams will compete with this configuration.
- All robots must be set in place before the course configuration is revealed. Any additional tampering with the robot after this time will be considered cheating, and the team will automatically forfeit the round and the competition.
- Alcohol and any other illegal substances are not allowed at the competition. Violators will be forced to forfeit the competition.
- Any Northwestern undergraduate student is welcome to enter the competition.
- A $50 financial incentive will be awarded to any team that includes at least one freshman.
- The maximum number of teams to receive funding from the Executive Board is 30.
- Removal of the robots from the course can occur:
a. if both teams agree their robot has finished its program.
b. if a member of a team receives permission from an Executive Board member to remove it because it is in danger of harming itself.
c. if a robot is in violation of any rule or is harming the course.
- Once a robot has been removed from the course, it may earn no further points for the round.
APPEALS
- Any appeals to the judges' decisions must be made to the head judge before the start of the match immediately following the match in question. If an appeal is filed, the competition will be suspended until a final decision on the matter has been made.
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