Junkyard Challenge B

[EMC2]

What is the definition of "floor" when it comes to securing mousetraps? Can you tape your moustraps to your box or some other part of your structure? According to the powerpoint it clearly shows that the moustraps are taped down on the board. Thoughts?

[brobo]

"Floor" means exactly what you think. The floor. You can attatch it to your box, boards, paper, whatever, just not the floor.

[earthbot25]

I ran the event at a recent invitational and the top 3 teams all had PLCs. The scores were all based on 59 "whole seconds" and were decided by the fraction of the second required to start and stop the stopwatch. The 4th and 5th teams did not use a PLC but still used motors and got times of 53 and 57 seconds. They could have likely done better if they pushed it a little.
Basically the whole event came down to whomever got the luckiest on the stopwatch.

it says in the rules that the timer stops when either the 4th mousetrap is set off or 60 seconds is reached, but if it is under 60 seconds, and it is extremely close like 59 seconds and some fraction of a second, will it just be up to the event supervisors finger clicking the stopwatch?

[penclspinner]

I ran the event at a recent invitational and the top 3 teams all had PLCs. The scores were all based on 59 "whole seconds" and were decided by the fraction of the second required to start and stop the stopwatch. The 4th and 5th teams did not use a PLC but still used motors and got times of 53 and 57 seconds. They could have likely done better if they pushed it a little.
Basically the whole event came down to whomever got the luckiest on the stopwatch.

it says in the rules that the timer stops when either the 4th mousetrap is set off or 60 seconds is reached, but if it is under 60 seconds, and it is extremely close like 59 seconds and some fraction of a second, will it just be up to the event supervisors finger clicking the stopwatch?

Yes it will be up to the event supervisors' fingers clicking the stopwatch. You'd better hope that they have good reflexes.

[StampingKid]

Okay, assuming that the trigger for the timer is at the top of the device and activated within .1 secs from drop, how close is safe to program?--59 secs? 59.5 secs? ?

[penclspinner]

Okay, assuming that the trigger for the timer is at the top of the device and activated within .1 secs from drop, how close is safe to program?--59 secs? 59.5 secs? ?

I believe that is part of the challenge involved with this event -- how close can you get to the perfect time without going over while at the same time taking into consideration the judge's human reflexes. It's going to be up to your own discretion how close you can think you program your device to the optimal time.

[wlsguy]

Okay, assuming that the trigger for the timer is at the top of the device and activated within .1 secs from drop, how close is safe to program?--59 secs? 59.5 secs? ?

I believe that is part of the challenge involved with this event -- how close can you get to the perfect time without going over while at the same time taking into consideration the judge's human reflexes. It's going to be up to your own discretion how close you can think you program your device to the optimal time.

OK. Since reaction time varies by age, gender, fatigue, and concentration, this will be the biggest factor to determine who wins at Nationals. I would expect many of the devices to be able to run 59.0~59.999 seconds and it will come down to luck (not, by the way what S.O. was designed to become).
In any case, do you best and get the most points possible. Don't worry so much about the time. The Judge's reflexes are not something you can control.

[doctor]

wouldn't that be unfair though?
maybe the event supervisor will give a team 59.8 and another one 59.6 or something
it cud be biased

[penclspinner]

wouldn't that be unfair though?
maybe the event supervisor will give a team 59.8 and another one 59.6 or something
it cud be biased

Assuming you have the same judge(s) and timers throughout the whole day, the discrepancy between times shouldn't be that large. Part of the way the judges combat time discrepancies is by having multiple timers so that even if a judge's timing was off it would be compensated by the other timers.

There is no "bias" involved.

[cooltiger]

Everyone is talking 59 seconds this and that, is anyone on here accutaly really getting that close. We have to remember this is a new event, and theirs no real standerd designs. Not to mention that if the judges can't figure out which one went off first, they will say its a tie, and points for the correct order will be lost. I think this is what we are more likly to see.

Regionals: Winners will be in the 50 seconds + range
States: Winners will be in the 55 seconds + range
Nationals: Winners will be 57, 58, or 59 seconds (however this may be luck, not consistent wining)