Robo-Cross B

[jander14indoor]

Someone has politely pointed out an error in my math off line, don't want to hide it, so:

<SNIP>
Robot 1
16 pennies times 2 points in zone D times side jug bonus 2 = 64
4 legos times 4 points in zone D times side jug bonus 2 =32
4 ping pong palls times 6 points in zone D times side jug bonus 2 = 48
1 tennis ball times 8 points in zone D times side jug bonus 2 = 16
Robot in zone D = 15
Time score 0
Total = 239
<SNIP>

Correct total value is 175 so they should reconsider some of the objects they grabbed if they were worth the time it took. Should be easy to move score well above 185.

Regards,

[aopsfan1]

The rules is not just about the good teams, it is also about average teams with scores lower than 180.

Strong teams care less about the rules and their scores will be well above the 180. Where is the motivation for teams not achieving the score of 180? Where is the balance between time and grabbing objects for these teams?

You're a relatively new user, and I assume somewhat new to SO. If you search though my past posts, you'll find that I frequently mention that we constantly think about the 'average' teams when we write the rules, not the 'national caliber' teams We are very cognizant of the fact that there are nearly 7000 teams that will compete this year, the majority of which will not get a medal or reach a state tournament, let alone the national tournament. We want each and every one of those participants to learn something and be positively impacted by Science Olympiad in some way. If that means buying a RC car and taping a plow on front of it to compete, so be it. It's far better than the option of teams deciding not to participate in the event at all because they feel its too complicated or expensive or whatever (which is something we constantly struggle with).

I am a new user and I saw several other users posting also are new users. I registered as I just want to voice my opinion. I am not new to SO. I have 2 kids who participated. One is in college now and his school team went to National when he was in high school. The younger one is participating in middle school. So I am familiar with SO and volunteered at school.

Thank you for help promoting science in the young generations. I think my point is to provide the rules writers a different point view as some other new users. I think the balance between time and robot-action is off this year. This year's rules are stricter than last year's as I know there are many teams got perfect score which means the standard is somewhat low. I think the focus point of the event is Robot, not the time. Let me go with some extreme example, say the point for time is not counted as millisecond in the rule, the other score still keeps the same, see how teams will response. I think the event will become a race-car event, not a robot event. I just think the balance in the rule this year is off.

I think we have the same goal. Thank you for spending time responding to my post.

[ThatGuy]

What is your guys' opinion for an average score? ATM, I am getting about 350; in my opinion, I feel like 350 is only average because I have been skipping the pennies entirely and just went for everything and the double jug multiplier.

[Unome]

What is your guys' opinion for an average score? ATM, I am getting about 350; in my opinion, I feel like 350 is only average because I have been skipping the pennies entirely and just went for everything and the double jug multiplier.

Depends entirely on where you are. In Georgia, you would almost definitely get first place. In the Northeast, that might be closer to 6th.

[Sem6000]

Hello everyone,

I was reviewing the rules and it said that we had to have a modification on a robot built from a commercial kit. Rule 2:c from the booklet states

A commercial kit must have at least one functional modification, defined as a modification such that the lack of it will result in the Robot not working or working differently.

My team is using the Clawbot kit from Vex and we have the option to switch the motors into high speed mode. If the motors are switched into high speed mode, will that count as a modification?

Thanks in advance for responding.

[chalker]

My team is using the Clawbot kit from Vex and we have the option to switch the motors into high speed mode. If the motors are switched into high speed mode, will that count as a modification?.

I'm not sure what you mean by switch the motors into high speed mode, but if it's a simple setting that comes with the kit, I don't think most people would consider that a FUNCTIONAL modification.

[retired1]

He has Vex, and it comes with a second set of gears that you can remove and replace for another speed.

[computers4fun]

Someone has politely pointed out an error in my math off line, don't want to hide it, so:

Correct total value is 175 so they should reconsider some of the objects they grabbed if they were worth the time it took. Should be easy to move score well above 185.

Jeff
Thanks for posting that your scoring of my example run had a math error. I guess I am not the only one who makes mistakes with the scoring

When will the corrected spreadsheet be posted? Our local competition is this weekend and I suspect they will be using the spreadsheet. I was surprised a note hasn't been posted on soinc.org that the currently posted spreadsheet has a bug. I think there may be another error in the spreadsheet with the # of correctly identified items column. It adds 3 pts for each correct answer instead of subtracting 3 points for a missed question as stated in the rules.

Also, how long does it normally take to receive a response when posting a FAQ question on soinc.org? We had submitted a question more than a week ago and haven't heard anything back yet.

[jander14indoor]

The error I found and highlighted has been fixed. Don't know about the one you mentioned.

FAQs take an unpredictable amount of time. The chair tends to do them in batches.

Jeff Anderson
Livonia, MI

[computers4fun]

The soinc.org site still lists the Robocross spreadsheet download as V2 with an update date of 12/11/14.
Is the link actually to the fixed version? If so, if the file name is the same how will people know if they have the fixed version or a version with a bug?