Junkyard Challenge C

[sachleen]

So after reading the FAQ's, I'm kind of nervous about our use of the mystery object. Is it good enough for the mystery item to be essential to the accuracy of the device, or must it be essential to the operation? Because without the mystery item, our device would be far less accurate, but it would still work. One of those FAQ's made that really ambiguous, so now I'm kind of nervous about it.

"Not function as intended" would include the device being inaccurate and becoming inoperable after the removal of the Mystery Material. - http://soinc.org/node/407

I'm hoping that was meant to be an OR. In that case you should be fine.

[DeltaHat]

"Not function as intended" would include the device being inaccurate and becoming inoperable after the removal of the Mystery Material.

The key is the word include. "Not function as intended" includes both possible outcomes. To play it really safe, you can design you AD so that it won't function at all without the Mystery Material.

[vofbassist]

"Not function as intended" would include the device being inaccurate and becoming inoperable after the removal of the Mystery Material.

The key is the word include. "Not function as intended" includes both possible outcomes. To play it really safe, you can design you AD so that it won't function at all without the Mystery Material.

You really need to consider all possible outcomes for that. It would almost be better to make a problem with it that is a quick fix, then consider what could be done with the mystery material with your partner. Then refer to the first thing I said.

[jazzy009]

How complicated are coin sorters getting? I really like the idea of a hopper w/ motor. But we may stick with a hand fed idea for states. This seems like an event where there will either be a lot of high scores or a lot of low ones...

[trombonegirl23]

Ok my partner and I have no ideas at all for this event and have never done it before. Does anyone have any tips for tipping the scale? Or are there any helpful websites that tell how to make scales?

[jazzy009]

trombonegirl how much time do you have?

you might want to start off somewhat simple with a balance that has water dripping on one side. once you understand the math behind it (measuring how much water you have and then converting it to how many grams that is), it is pretty consistent/accurate.

[trombonegirl23]

Well the competition is march 7th....
That sounds like a good idea. But whatever we make we still have to use the mystery material..
Do any of you practice a bunch of times building it with different things that could be a mystery material?

[jazzy009]

what we do for that is simply think about any random objects they could give us (a tennis ball, paperclip, etc) and then build so we can incorporate those. now we cant obviously do that for every possible thing, but if you spend a lot of time thinking about different scenarios, you have a very good chance of being able to recreate them at a competition.

also, build your device with lots of interchangeable parts. thats kind of obvious but pretty important.

one more thing: trombones are the best, i play as well (this doesnt fit the topic, but i felt it needed to be said).

[Paradox21]

It's best to try to think of types of objects (balls, bolts, string, rods, etc.) rather than every single object.

(By the way, trombones rock. I also play )

[Uncle Fester]

Ran Junkyard yesterday. 160.8g mass (cookies), with the best score being MUCH less than one.

One team built a digital inertial scale that required a calculator to determine the correct mass; clearly student designed and built (one of the more intelligent conversations I had all day), and was off by a half gram, but it didn't win-- it was beat by a spring arm scale that was almost 2m wide and 1m tall.

BEWARE: Someone produced an iPhone and tried to use it as a calculator. Sorry, but a cellphone's a cellphone, and no busy event sup will waste time watching to make sure no calls are made. A calculator only costs a few bucks.