Readily available Rollercoaster

[sciencebird]

There is a rollercoaster available commercially that is built per science olympiad rules. The teams are buying them, cutting and pasting them. it is already calibrated to work for all the time ranges, ski jumps etc.
We are starting to see multiple teams bringing the same device. We thought there was a policy about student building the device and not obtaining device predesigned.
Since this is a kit, is it allowed for regionals, state and nationals competition?.
If so, it seems to go against the spirit of the competition where a participant needs to think through the design/build and learn in the process. It would be better to clarify to what extent the students can use commercial tracks/predesigned ready to use material that would not violate the policy with respect to this event.
How do event supervisors differentiate since all of these devices will end with same scores?.

[antoine_ego]

There is a rollercoaster available commercially that is built per science olympiad rules. The teams are buying them, cutting and pasting them. it is already calibrated to work for all the time ranges, ski jumps etc.
We are starting to see multiple teams bringing the same device. We thought there was a policy about student building the device and not obtaining device predesigned.
Since this is a kit, is it allowed for regionals, state and nationals competition?.
If so, it seems to go against the spirit of the competition where a participant needs to think through the design/build and learn in the process. It would be better to clarify to what extent the students can use commercial tracks/predesigned ready to use material that would not violate the policy with respect to this event.
How do event supervisors differentiate since all of these devices will end with same scores?.

Kits are allowed so long as competitors modify them sufficiently. Furthermore, even if competitors do get the same score (seems pretty unlikely), that's why tiebreakers exist.

[builder83]

Copied kits should be disqualified according to the FAQ. Assembled commerical pieces is fine.

Plus, you don't want a paper rollercoaster anyway!

[chalker]

Can you provide some more info about this kit? A website or something? We do have a building policy, but it's up to the individual event supervisor to enforce it.

[FrogLegs]

This was the first link I found when I searched (scroll to bottom).

http://paperrollercoasters.com/

[builder83]

Yeah, spend 40 bucks for paper that may DQ you and at best place middle of the pack. Those designs won't ever do jumps well and will probably fall apart on the way to competition. The half pipe idea was cool though if you did not see it check out their youtube.

From what I have seen people are directly copying them. Maybe make it through regionals but I am sure state level will DQ.

[SPP SciO]

Yeah, spend 40 bucks for paper that may DQ you and at best place middle of the pack. Those designs won't ever do jumps well and will probably fall apart on the way to competition. The half pipe idea was cool though if you did not see it check out their youtube.

From what I have seen people are directly copying them. Maybe make it through regionals but I am sure state level will DQ.

Curious, why do you think that may result in a DQ? Is it much different than kits for Wright Stuff? From what I can tell it looks like you just get a bunch of printed cardstock, and it's up to the students to build, test, calibrate etc.

I definitely agree with you about the durability aspect though; transportation would be a real challenge.

[chalker]

and it's up to the students to build, test, calibrate etc.

^This. While this may be skirting the official building policy a bit, it's still not a slam dunk. I suspect lots of teams that buy this kit will show up at competitions with very different devices and resulting scores.

[builder83]

Yeah, spend 40 bucks for paper that may DQ you and at best place middle of the pack. Those designs won't ever do jumps well and will probably fall apart on the way to competition. The half pipe idea was cool though if you did not see it check out their youtube.

From what I have seen people are directly copying them. Maybe make it through regionals but I am sure state level will DQ.

Curious, why do you think that may result in a DQ? Is it much different than kits for Wright Stuff? From what I can tell it looks like you just get a bunch of printed cardstock, and it's up to the students to build, test, calibrate etc.

I definitely agree with you about the durability aspect though; transportation would be a real challenge.

Because it is different in a lot of aspects. Its a much more complex design than wright stuff. Compare it more to mission possible.

Also in the FAQ on website under rollercoaster it says it is up to the event coordinator to determine if teams did enough of their own designing aside from the kit in the spirit of the event.

[Escape]

I never considered that there could be a kit to buy, and it's entirely disappointing that it's acceptable. What is the point of participating if you don't want to learn the process?