Blocks Task

[Jim_R]

Discussion for Blocks task.

[blazer]

Does anybody have any ideas of how to do this? It seems like the hardest task.

[Flavorflav]

I'm thinking you could line the blocks up on a hinged board and then raise the other end. You would need some sort of a corral to keep them stacked, though, which raises a question: if the block is touching a vertical wall, technically there is a tiny frictional force supporting the block. Do you think judges are likely to count this as not being supported entirely by the block underneath?

[Lieficheep]

Does anybody have any ideas of how to do this? It seems like the hardest task.

Agreed... Im not sure if I actually want to try to incorporate this, swapping it for the pulley seems so much easier, but... 30 points is a lot.

[DeltaHat]

I'm thinking you could line the blocks up on a hinged board and then raise the other end. You would need some sort of a corral to keep them stacked, though, which raises a question: if the block is touching a vertical wall, technically there is a tiny frictional force supporting the block. Do you think judges are likely to count this as not being supported entirely by the block underneath?

If you could make the corral fall away after the blocks are stacked, there would no longer be a problem.

[Flavorflav]

Well, you'd have a different problem - I would think that would take up a whole lot of your room.

[DeltaHat]

Already the event is becoming more than just "do whatever the rules say". Strategies are growing and compromises are being made. We did good this year.

[Flavorflav]

I agree, a big improvement on last year's rules.

[zcshiner]

Already the event is becoming more than just "do whatever the rules say". Strategies are growing and compromises are being made. We did good this year.

I agree, but I also feel that certain tasks (Sign Task) introduce uncontrolled variables (air currents, static cling, etc.), and make aspects of the device uncontrollable and random. To quote user old from the Sign Task thread, "the teams with the best builders and lab event performances did no better (often worse) then those who were poor at those things".

[Uncle Fester]

Okay, so strategy is now a big factor. Actually, it always has been, just never blatantly advertised like now.