Designs

[goodcheer]

There was an event around 2000 called Water Striders. Here's the description of it: The objective of this event is to design and build a device, using only the materials specified, that will travel the length of a water-filled trough, propelled solely by the carbon-dioxide produced from the chemical reaction between sodium bicarbonate and acetic acid.

Thanks for piloting us through these tricky channels!

More ideas for boating events: Air craft carrier that launches an elastic powered glider. Battleship with a catapult or elastic powered cannon on it. The vessels could be passive or powered by RC depending on targets or distance.

[themaker]

Dang. Mission's rules have gotten really complicated.

Thank you so much for helping figure out the rules Chalker. However, I was wondering if there was a way (perhaps by increasing the point values of the golfballs) to make it worth lifting them. Because at this point, I think although no team will get DQed for rules, the new clarifications put teams that worked on a lifting mechanism at a severe disadvantage. Although they worked harder on a lifting mechanism than the other teams that didn't lift golfballs, they are penalized for doing so. Also, to stay competitive, I think a lot of golfball lifting teams will need to scrap their old device and build a new one. Could there be a way to give a golfball a certain number of points to make the point gain/loss relatively equal between teams that lift or don't lift golfballs but have the same amount of transfers? That way golfball lifting teams can still compete with their existing design?

That actually sounds quite impossible, but I really don't want to rebuild.

[chalker7]

We're posting more and expanding on FAQ's today, including those regarding ETS's and golf balls.

[captjack]

chalker, I have combed the rules over and over again, and have not found anything to either support or deny the possibility of having all golf balls moving towards the scoring jug at the same time but released one at a time ex. belt moves > ets > belt moves > ets, etc (as in the conveyor belt I mentioned earlier in the thread where a motor stops/starts it). The only competition my team has left is states, and I am deathly scared of designing a mission based on this conveyor belt system only to have it dinged at States. Do you have any input on the validity of this design?

[chalker7]

chalker, I have combed the rules over and over again, and have not found anything to either support or deny the possibility of having all golf balls moving towards the scoring jug at the same time but released one at a time ex. belt moves > ets > belt moves > ets, etc (as in the conveyor belt I mentioned earlier in the thread where a motor stops/starts it). The only competition my team has left is states, and I am deathly scared of designing a mission based on this conveyor belt system only to have it dinged at States. Do you have any input on the validity of this design?

No one can make official declarations through this forum. We are trying to clear through all of the Mission FAQ's in as timely a manner that allows us to be accurate and sure of our answers as possible. There are about 40 remaining in the queue, some will be posted, some will not. Scenarios similar to what you describe are questioned in a few of them, but if you want to be completely certain, submit an FAQ with as much information as possible.

[killer225whale]

A new Sample ASL has been posted at http://soinc.org/mission_c. The scoresheet and checklist have also been updated.

[tinywings]

If a component is used multiple times, for example a lift, and not included in a scoreable transfer, how would it be labeled on the ASL? For example, a golf ball hits a switch to start the next ETS, goes into the lift, is lifted up, and then falls into the jug. Would it just not be labeled (not labeled M, E, VL, T, or C) or...? Kinda confused. Thanks in advance

[watermydoing14]

If a component is used multiple times, for example a lift, and not included in a scoreable transfer, how would it be labeled on the ASL? For example, a golf ball hits a switch to start the next ETS, goes into the lift, is lifted up, and then falls into the jug. Would it just not be labeled (not labeled M, E, VL, T, or C) or...? Kinda confused. Thanks in advance

My understanding from the sample ASL posted a few days ago is that all actions, regardless of whether or not they are in a bonus ETS, should be labelled with the starting and ending energy forms, except for any action that says something along the lines of "as the golf ball falls into the jug," which will have no starting energy form (leave the cell blank) because the golf ball moving into the jug cannot count as an energy form according to rule 4.b.

[TXScioly]

What counts as a "Unique ETS"?
Are "M - E - M - M" and "M - E - M - M - M" unique?
I think this depends on the definition of "transfer" in the rules. Does it mean a change from one energy type to a different one? Or just a transfer of energy (A ball colliding with another ball "transfers" its Kinetic Energy to the 2nd ball).
I'm ASSUMING they mean the former definition, where the transfer must involve a CHANGE of type of energy, since this is what counted for points last year (M -> M was just counted as a duplicate and ignored last year). If we use this definition, I would say those two ETS's above are NOT unique, since, without the duplicate M->M's, they are both "M-E-M".

Any thoughts?

[sjwon3789]

What counts as a "Unique ETS"?
Are "M - E - M - M" and "M - E - M - M - M" unique?
I think this depends on the definition of "transfer" in the rules. Does it mean a change from one energy type to a different one? Or just a transfer of energy (A ball colliding with another ball "transfers" its Kinetic Energy to the 2nd ball).
I'm ASSUMING they mean the former definition, where the transfer must involve a CHANGE of type of energy, since this is what counted for points last year (M -> M was just counted as a duplicate and ignored last year). If we use this definition, I would say those two ETS's above are NOT unique, since, without the duplicate M->M's, they are both "M-E-M".

Any thoughts?

Rule 4b specifically states it must transfer to a different basic Basic Energy form.