Scioly.org

We are new to this event. Any information will be appreciated highly. Would NXT from Mindstorm be considered as a kit as we are using it to build the robot. Is that ok? Or are there any other suggestions?

Thanks!

Is there anyone else using lynxmotion for their project? I am very confused as to how to power both arm and vehicle...

Would like to help contribute to this. Will help answer any questions I can.

seadog wrote:We are new to this event. Any information will be appreciated highly. Would NXT from Mindstorm be considered as a kit as we are using it to build the robot. Is that ok? Or are there any other suggestions?

Thanks!

Hello, I've seen NXT used many times before. So long as you don't use a specific kit, you should be fine. It isn't easy, but we were able to put together our 2nd place Regionals robot with no kit and almost completely from scratch.

gmui wrote:I bought a large number of Vex robot parts off of ebay for my son and he built his robot without any instructions using the parts available. I did separately buy him the claw component from Vex to use. Since it wasn't a follow-the-directions kit, would this suffice as a modification or would they view it as a kit? He also programmed it all by himself too.

Also, is everyone building their own test arena?

That should be fine. The FAQ says "a kit built that exclusively follows a manufacturer's directions" would not be legal, so unless your son accidentally exactly recapitulated the Protobot or the Vexplorer, you are okay.

You might want to build a field to practice, but you will compete on the supervisor's field.

Flavorflav wrote:

gmui wrote:<SNIP>
Also, is everyone building their own test arena?

<SNIP>You might want to build a field to practice, but you will compete on the supervisor's field.

I'd take that recommendation a step further. Why wouldn't you build a practice field? Use of the robot is as important as design. And how can you compare design ideas with out testing them?
If the first time your robot sees the playing field is at a tournament, you WILL fail.

Further, since you have to use the supervisor's field, and the rules explicitly allow a WIDE range of materials, finish and fit, DON'T build a 'perfect' field. In fact, you may want to build several fields as different finishes can affect your design approach.

Jeff Anderson
Livonia, MI

True. For example, a flat pan method may work better on hard wood than on carpet.

SO me and my partner have been getting perfect scores (like 98% of the time), but when we ran at our regional competition, the border between Zone C and D fell off (they hot glued it) and we got about 100 points. They let us go again at the end of the day, but then our left wheels got pinched. We still got 2nd though (we got a score of 159), so I'm pretty happy.

Am honestly surprised that you placed so high without getting full points. We got second also at regionals, but we had finished with all points in 2:26. The first place team finished in 2:07.

ThatRoboGuy wrote:Am honestly surprised that you placed so high without getting full points. We got second also at regionals, but we had finished with all points in 2:26. The first place team finished in 2:07.

At same competition. Our regionals is low key and the competition isn't too fierce. State is another matter. Such a run would be squarely in the middle.

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