Wall-to-Wall

Contest Name: Wall-to-Wall

Submitted By: Gary Reynolds, Physics Instructor at Santa Ana High School, Santa Ana, CA

Materials:

• Boe-Bot, Shield-Bot, ActivityBot or Similar Robot
• 2 (two) 36-inch long 1×6” or 2×6” Boards (or similarly sized hard object. A wall could be used instead of one of the boards.)
• Masking tape

Objective:

The objective is to drive from one wall to the other and touch the highest-scoring spots to accumulate as many points as possible within 60 seconds from the start.

Rules:

About the Robots:

• A mark is made on the front of the robot
• Because this game tests participant’s ability to carefully program a sequence of movements, the robots in this game must be similarly matched in capability – wheel encoders should either be required for all robots or not allowed for any, and their top speeds should be similar.
  • For a more exact approach to robots with varying speeds (to remove the speed advantage):
    • Robots are initially timed through a 3 foot straight course.
    • Robot with the slowest speed is given a scoring period of 60 seconds in the box.
    • Faster robots are given a shorter period of time (percentage of 60 seconds) based on their speed run compared to the slowest robot’s time in the speed trial.

About the course/field:

• The course consists of a flat floor or table space that is at least 6 ft. long by 3 ft. wide
• 2 (two) 3 ft. boards, spaced 6 ft. apart, are marked with 9 (nine) 4-inch wide boxes and labeled as shown in the drawing below.  The center box is labeled with a “5”.
  • Tape or similar labeling can be used on a wall or on the floor instead of a board.
• A small piece of masking tape is placed halfway between the boards to mark the start of the course.
• The robot starts behind this line.

About the Game:

• This competition tests a robot’s response to touch sensors and ability to make accurate turns.

Scoring:

• The robot scores the sum of values of the sections of board it strikes with the center mark within a 60 second period.

Variations:

• The size of the field, the time limit, and the scoring marks can be varied.
• Additional requirements for programming can be imposed to increase the difficulty.
• Other sensors, such as the PING))) or infrared sensors could be used, and a line near the boards to indicate that the robot got “close enough” before turning around could be added.