Rules

calgoddard
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2015 WS Rules

Post by calgoddard »

What does everyone think of the 2015 WS rules?
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Re: 2015 WS Rules

Post by torqueburner »

calgoddard wrote:What does everyone think of the 2015 WS rules?
I think it would have been more interesting to remove the 2 gram limit on rubber rather than dropping the requirement for commercial props.
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Re: Rules

Post by jander14indoor »

Problem with not limiting rubber is flight length. With these wing sizes and masses you can do well north of 5 minutes with unlimited rubber. Not real manageable in the SO competition format. If you moved up the mass or reduced the wing size to limit flight times you lose the slow flying majesty of indoor models, plus make the trimming problem MUCH harder.

On the other hand, store bought vs student made props have limited creativity without much real added value in keeping things simple. Frankly one of the points we introduced helicopters 4 years was to negate the old argument that props were too hard for the kids. Kind of hard to make that stick when Div B and C students have been successfully making props (rotors) for 4 years.

At least that's one of the rule writer's views...

Jeff Anderson
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Re: Rules

Post by ethancorvids »

What are the rules this year? What are the weight limits? (My coach hasn't handed out rules yet.)
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Re: Rules

Post by someusername »

I think for me everything is pretty straight forward except the colored pannel on the wing. Does anyone else understand that?
simplicity is key...sometimes
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Re: Rules

Post by retired1 »

It is there to make the airplane more visible. In some venues bright lights or bright sunshine can make the aircraft very difficult to see. Is it worth bonus points? It does not seem like a good bonus arrangement, but you would be amazed at the number of teams that will show up without the colored panels or a complete flight log. It is an easy source of points, so smile and take them.
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Re: Rules

Post by bernard »

Several FAQs regarding Wright Stuff have been posted on the official Science Olympiad website:
Science Olympiad wrote:Please clarify "non-transparent" as even Esaki tissue is transparent enough to read through: Is Dying, spray painting, or coloring with a marker over clear plastic covering material allowed? (section: 3 / paragraph: g / line: 1)
Yes, for the Science Olympiad National Competition, the techniques and materials as described but not limited to: dying, spray painting, coloring with a marker over clear plastic, are each acceptable and will be allowed as a covering so that aircraft may be identified at its maximum altitude.

In the case of a tip-dihedral model, would a colored wing tip (which is non-horizontal) meet the requirements of both rule 5.a and 3.g.? (section: 5 / paragraph: a / line: 1)
"One of the ways that I believe people express their appreciation to the rest of humanity is to make something wonderful and put it out there." – Steve Jobs
jander14indoor
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Re: Rules

Post by jander14indoor »

A comment on the thought process on bonuses.
We typically use them for one of three purposes.
One to give more points for harder tasks, that's how bonuses are used in Robocross for instance.
Two to motivate creative thinking when the students seem to be falling in a rut, like the single blade rotor bonus for helicopters last year, or the Chinook bonus for helicopters three years ago.
Three to send a message about something we think is important but REALLY don't want to be penalizing folks to hard (tiering for instance) or spend too much time judging carefully. The flight log penalty and the colored panel bonus are in that category. There is NO reason anyone should be hurt by those except by simple negligence. Though I agree, a lot of teams manage to miss these easy ones. Sometimes teams that otherwise do very well.

Since Wright stuff is returning from hiatus, let me foot stomp why the flight log penalty is there. Wright Stuff is NOT about designing a wonder plane. Rubber powered planes have been around for a long time and good designs are well understood. The world record for these things is something like 1 hr 9 minutes for crying out loud. For Science Olympiad Wright Stuff is about testing, collecting data and analyzing it to optimize the performance of a system. Very important every day work for scientists and engineers. If you aren't flying and recording data you just are missing the point of the event. Thus the flight log penalty to help get that message across.

OK, off soap box, sorry...

Kind of...

Jeff Anderson
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Re: Rules

Post by 28builder »

quick question. 1st time ws participant. so we can bring 2 planes etc... when it is our turn to fly. we have already weighed out plane and motor .. we then are given time to wind adn what if a motor breaks? we have brought 2 planes but are we allowed to weigh more than 2 motors. or are we just limited to 2 planes and the motor that goes with those planes?
thanks
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Re: Rules

Post by jander14indoor »

Not official forum, so not official answer, other opinions may differ, read the rules carefully yourself, if you want an official answer submit it through the FAQ process on the National webpage www.soinc.org

OK, with normal caveat above, there has not been a limit on how many motors you weight/have available in the past. I see nothing in the rules this year that would limit the number of motors.

On a related note, while the rules allow you to bring two planes, you don't have to (though why wouldn't you incase you break a wing instead of a motor). Nor do you have to fly both planes if you bring two. An I don't see anything in the rules that prevents you from having repair parts, though as an Event Supervisor if you start switching out parts I'm going to check that your plane still complies with the rules.

Regards,
Jeff Anderson
Livonia, MI
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