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The
Year 2002 Game: More is More
The game is the inverse of
last year's game, Less is More with a twist. There are 13 balls
on the table when the game starts, but a ball dispenser will subsequently
add two balls during the game, one at 20 and one at 40 seconds into
play. Your job is to design a robot to collect and retain balls on your
side of the board. At the end of the 60 second game, the robot with
the most balls on its side wins. Good strategy, ball handling,
tracking your opponent, and especially reliability will be important.
The board and specific game
rules are described below. See the web page of the current game for
a description of the contest format, the general contest rules, and
the robot construction rules, which do not change signifcantly from
year to year.
Specific
Game Rules
BallsScoringPlay
The game board is 6 feet
by 9 feet, but is not flat. As shown in the cross section above, there
is a flat, level, 1 foot wide plateau across the center of the board
(indicated by the dotted blue lines on the top view), and from there,
the surface slopes down on each side to a point about 7.5 inches from
the ends. There is also a slope from the ends of the table to the same
point, forming a trough about 7.5 inches from each end wall. Balls placed
anywhere on the sloping surfaces will tend to roll down and ultimately
collect in a trough. The blue circles above show the placement of balls
at the beginning of the game. The red stars represent starting lights
embedded in the board; a robot starts at each location, defining its
side of the board. The triangles at the sides of the board on the center
line represent ball dispensers. Each will release one more ball during
the game as described below. One half of the board is painted flat black
and has white lines to aid navigation; the other half is painted flat
white and has black lines. The lines, indicated in the drawing by dark
dashed lines, are 3/4 inch wide. The board has 5 inch high walls at
all four sides; the inner side of all the walls are painted flat white.
The slopes in the cross section
view (and the size of the balls) have been exaggerated for clarity.
The slopes are actually about 2.5 degrees from horizontal, and the total
drop from the plateau to the trough is about 1.75 inch. Otherwise, the
drawing is reasonably to scale, but the official dimensions are those
of the physical game board. Since the board is constructed in parts,
there may be small surface and wall misalignments; these should be less
than 1/8 inch.
Balls
- The balls are standard practice
golf balls. They are hollow, about 1.6 inches in diameter, weigh less
than 0.5 oz, and have a smooth plastic surface with many small holes.
The balls may be of various colors but the colors have no significance.
All balls are inert and have identical mechanical properties.
- Thirteen balls will be placed
on the table at the beginning of the game as shown in the diagram
above. Slight indentations or other means may be used to hold the balls
in position initially.
- Each ball dispenser will
hold one additional ball, which can be released by shining a light into
a sensor located in the wall directly below the dispenser, about 4"
above the table surface. The ball dispensers will also be activated
automatically, one at 20 seconds and one at 40 seconds after the start
of the game. The balls will be released at the height of the board wall,
5" above the surface, at the edge, and will have a modest horizontal
velocity toward the center of the table, along the center line. After
the release, the ball may come to rest on the flat, neutral area, or
roll to either side, depending on the random variables of the release
process, any bounces, and whatever it may hit.
- The balls may not be altered,
punctured, or destroyed in any way.
Period
of Play
- The contestants will have
30 seconds to place their machines on the game board from the time the
judges call them. During this time the start lights will be ON to aid
in robot alignment. When both teams are ready, and/or the preparation
time time is over, the start lights will be turned off and the teams
will have a few seconds to prepare their robot to start the game. The
robots may be placed in any orientation within the starting area, which
is a circle 18 inches in diameter centered on the start light.
- The game will be started
by the judges turning on the starting lights, located in the surface
of the table in the center of each robot's starting circle, for the
first two seconds of the game.
- False Start Rule: A robot
that fails to start as expected will be awarded a loss, and may be removed
from the table at the judge's discretion. The remaining robot will be
allowed to play without opposition.
- The powered portion of a
game will last 60 seconds. Software will be provided to cut off power
at the end of 60 seconds, and any machine that continues to supply battery
power after 60 seconds will lose the game.
- The game ends when both
robots and all game pieces come to rest.
- The judges will propose
to terminate a game early if neither robot appears to be making any
progress. Top
Scoring
- At the end of the game,
the robot with the most balls on its side of the table wins.
- Balls on the flat, center
plateau of the table do not count for either robot.
- A ball which leaves the
table over an end wall, or over a side wall up to the point of the start
light (24 inches from the end) will be considered to exist on that side
of the board for the rest of the game. The ball will not be returned
to the board, but it will be counted in the score.
- Balls which leave the table
at some other point will be added to a ball dispenser for the next release.
If the last automatic release has already occured, the ball will be
placed in the dispenser nearest the start lights. Top
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