Hovercraft B/C

[ericlepanda]

This is not true at all. Even within the medalists there was a significant time spread.

Hm, I did talk to the ES and must have misunderstood what he said to me. Can you at least give us some idea of how close the top 10 or so teams' scores were?

Our best run time was 14 seconds... yet we still got 6th place! It was all because we did so well on the test, plus we had a max weight hovercraft.

Did you miss any questions on the test? If so, which ones?

[SciolyMaster]

Hm, I did talk to the ES and must have misunderstood what he said to me. Can you at least give us some idea of how close the top 10 or so teams' scores were?

Our best run time was 14 seconds... yet we still got 6th place! It was all because we did so well on the test, plus we had a max weight hovercraft.

Did you miss any questions on the test? If so, which ones?

Honestly, I don't think we missed any questions. There was one question we were unsure of; it asked for the position of an object after it moved according to a velocity-time graph, but didn't tell us the direction, so we just put down the magnitude of the position vector.

[LittyWap]

Did you miss any questions on the test? If so, which ones?

I didn't have the BTU conversion and didn't have the date when the word "Hovercraft" was patented. Other than that, we left one part of the tension problem blank.

[SciolyMaster]

Did you miss any questions on the test? If so, which ones?

I didn't have the BHU BTU conversion and didn't have the date when the word "Hovercraft" was patented. Other than that, we left one part of the tension problem blank.

FTFY

[SciolyMaster]

Did you miss any questions on the test? If so, which ones?

I didn't have the BHU conversion and didn't have the date when the word "Hovercraft" was patented. Other than that, we left one part of the tension problem blank.

I wasn't sure about the btu conversion problem either. The number we got seemed awfully large. Then again, if we missed it, I don't think very many, if any, other teams would have gotten it right either.

[SciolyMaster]

I really am praying for fastest wins, I had a design that got under a second!

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I would wager that they will not ever make the competition fastest wins, because Chalker has said multiple times that fast is a safety issue, which was the whole problem with maglev. I also think that he said slower is harder from an engineering stand point too? Correct me if I'm wrong Chalker, which you already have multiple times today XD.

You'd be right to assume that faster is more dangerous.... On our second trial during a Ohio invitational, our <1 second vehicle (it was the only vehicle we had at the time) slammed into the barrier unexpectedly forcefully, and dented the shielding. This compounded in the denting of our shielding and a few textbooks on the floor... Faster is not a good idea, but you never know, the people who make the rules make mistakes too.

Now that chalker is watching, may I suggest rubber band powered Hover? It would certainly make for safer vehicle!

I don't think they would change the build portion of the event THAT much, although it will definitely be to the extent that nobody could use unmodified devices from this year for next year's competitions. Hovercraft will most likely keep electric motors, though they might change the maximum voltage or number of motors allowed. Most likely it will be changes to the rules pertaining to the competition itself, such as the track setup, number of runs allowed, or the scoring system, and they will hopefully be more clear than the 2017 rules (for example, the "or" in section 5.m. can be interpreted in two vastly different ways). The test will probably remain mostly the same though. I'm hoping that next year's rules will specify a specific track material to be used at all competitions, so we won't have to worry about different track surfaces affecting our hovercraft's performance.

[ericlepanda]

Did you miss any questions on the test? If so, which ones?

I didn't have the BHU conversion and didn't have the date when the word "Hovercraft" was patented. Other than that, we left one part of the tension problem blank.

I wasn't sure about the btu conversion problem either. The number we got seemed awfully large. Then again, if we missed it, I don't think very many, if any, other teams would have gotten it right either.

I missed the top speed of the military hovercraft thing and the BTU conversion. It seems like the test played a larger role than the build score in final placings.

[SciolyMaster]

I didn't have the BHU conversion and didn't have the date when the word "Hovercraft" was patented. Other than that, we left one part of the tension problem blank.

I wasn't sure about the btu conversion problem either. The number we got seemed awfully large. Then again, if we missed it, I don't think very many, if any, other teams would have gotten it right either.

I missed the top speed of the military hovercraft thing and the BTU conversion. It seems like the test played a larger role than the build score in final placings.

I think it was a combination of time score and test score that determined the placing, at least in the top 6, as the top teams all had max weight hovercraft. The 6th place team (us) did well on the test but bombed the time score, but some of the others who placed said they didn't do as well on the test but had a good time score.

[Ashernoel]

I wasn't sure about the btu conversion problem either. The number we got seemed awfully large. Then again, if we missed it, I don't think very many, if any, other teams would have gotten it right either.

I missed the top speed of the military hovercraft thing and the BTU conversion. It seems like the test played a larger role than the build score in final placings.

I think it was a combination of time score and test score that determined the placing, at least in the top 6, as the top teams all had max weight hovercraft. I know the first place team had a very good time score, but didn't do that well on the test; meanwhile, the 6th place team (us) did well on the test but bombed the time score.

yea in div C it was similar but more extreme. Bomb time but ace test can get 2nd or 3rd.

[chalker]

I know the first place team had a very good time score, but didn't do that well on the test; meanwhile, the 6th place team (us) did well on the test but bombed the time score.

This is not true. And not sure how you would know it since we haven't shared the test scores with anyone to my knowledge.

yea in div C it was similar but more extreme. Bomb time but ace test can get 2nd or 3rd.

Not exactly true either, as there was a range of test/time score combinations across 1st through 6th. Again, I don't think we've shared details with anyone, so not sure where you think you are getting this.