Paddle Wheel Task

[Kordo]

I understand the disclaimer, understood. As for the task, it was the final task and was used by at least 3 different schools and I had a long discussion with the judge and a few coaches about which side we felt the clarification would fall on. I would agree that the design of the rules were written so there would be no aid of any type for lifting the mass in the final task, but a few of the coaches and the judge noted that a ramp was not mentioned in section 4m even though it did say etc. I do see a problem coming until the clarification comes out. I appreciate your input and will wait for the clarification.

[chalker7]

I understand the disclaimer, understood. As for the task, it was the final task and was used by at least 3 different schools and I had a long discussion with the judge and a few coaches about which side we felt the clarification would fall on. I would agree that the design of the rules were written so there would be no aid of any type for lifting the mass in the final task, but a few of the coaches and the judge noted that a ramp was not mentioned in section 4m even though it did say etc. I do see a problem coming until the clarification comes out. I appreciate your input and will wait for the clarification.

That's an interesting interpretation of the rules, I'm surprised multiple teams (if they were from separate schools) are attempting the same thing. Do you have any idea about how much weight they were lifting?

[chalker]

Do you have any idea about how much weight they were lifting?

While we are asking about weights, I'm generally curious what weight people think is possible. When we were editing the rules my brother (chalker7) and I had a bit of a disagreement over the maximum possible weight someone could design a device within specs. I did some rough calculations and felt that a 40kg weight lift was entirely achievable. We explicitly wanted to avoid a situation like we saw last year with Mission in division C with the helium balloon based final task being essentially the only component people put in.

[Cheese_Muffin_Man]

Chalker, I'm curious on how you would do this.

[chalker7]

Chalker, I'm curious on how you would do this.

The exact specifics would be up to everyone's engineering skills, but the basics include long arms (radius nearly half the size of the box, to allow maximum mechanical advantage), an extremely small axle (again, mechanical advantage), a very dense substrate for the granular material, large cups acting as paddles, and (of course) a well-constructed assembly to make sure everything stays rigid.

Just for the record, while my brother suggests 40kg as the "theoretical maximum" to be lifted, I personally don't expect more than a handful of teams to get anywhere close to that number (we start running into an issue with the volume of the mass lifted within the device). I think a handful of teams (nationally) will be going over 10kg, but if you are doing 1kg or more you are doing extremely well and will likely rank highly in most states. Of course, we're always surprised by teams' solutions and I'm looking forward to seeing what you all come up with.

[Cheese_Muffin_Man]

Chalker, I'm curious on how you would do this.

The exact specifics would be up to everyone's engineering skills, but the basics include long arms (radius nearly half the size of the box, to allow maximum mechanical advantage), an extremely small axle (again, mechanical advantage), a very dense substrate for the granular material, large cups acting as paddles, and (of course) a well-constructed assembly to make sure everything stays rigid.

Just for the record, while my brother suggests 40kg as the "theoretical maximum" to be lifted, I personally don't expect more than a handful of teams to get anywhere close to that number (we start running into an issue with the volume of the mass lifted within the device). I think a handful of teams (nationally) will be going over 10kg, but if you are doing 1kg or more you are doing extremely well and will likely rank highly in most states. Of course, we're always surprised by teams' solutions and I'm looking forward to seeing what you all come up with.

Thanks!

[Cheese_Muffin_Man]

Chalker, I'm curious on how you would do this.

The exact specifics would be up to everyone's engineering skills, but the basics include long arms (radius nearly half the size of the box, to allow maximum mechanical advantage), an extremely small axle (again, mechanical advantage), a very dense substrate for the granular material, large cups acting as paddles, and (of course) a well-constructed assembly to make sure everything stays rigid.

Just for the record, while my brother suggests 40kg as the "theoretical maximum" to be lifted, I personally don't expect more than a handful of teams to get anywhere close to that number (we start running into an issue with the volume of the mass lifted within the device). I think a handful of teams (nationally) will be going over 10kg, but if you are doing 1kg or more you are doing extremely well and will likely rank highly in most states. Of course, we're always surprised by teams' solutions and I'm looking forward to seeing what you all come up with.

[Science-dad]

I'm a little confused. On the paddle wheel task the max weight for points is 1 kg. Are some people actually going to lift up to 40 kg or so more for tiebreakers?

[chalker7]

I'm a little confused. On the paddle wheel task the max weight for points is 1 kg. Are some people actually going to lift up to 40 kg or so more for tiebreakers?

No, but that is what we were predicting would be possible without limits or restrictions. However, only a very small handful of teams would approach that number and would likely dedicate a tremendous amount of resources and time to reaching 40kg while ignoring the rest of the tasks (like what happened last year with a few teams on the balloon task)

[Science-dad]

I'm a little confused. On the paddle wheel task the max weight for points is 1 kg. Are some people actually going to lift up to 40 kg or so more for tiebreakers?

No, but that is what we were predicting would be possible without limits or restrictions. However, only a very small handful of teams would approach that number and would likely dedicate a tremendous amount of resources and time to reaching 40kg while ignoring the rest of the tasks (like what happened last year with a few teams on the balloon task)

Thanks I think I'll wait for state before I worry about that then.