2011-2012 Rules

[Primate]

Again, I thought last year's tasks were simpler, more interesting. This year was WICKED hard as far as tasks. That's why I chose not to repeat in the event.
But this year teams really rose to the challenge, and I applaud them for it.

That's what I thought too, at first, but my Mission for this year was much simpler. With the help of these forums, you can find some pretty ingenious ways to accomplish everything with minimal effort.

[illusionist]

Just wondering, would it be possible to allows the use of devices and motors such as those found in the Lego Mindstorms NXT kit?

[aubrey048]

I did not participate in Mission Possible last year, but I saw the task list. They were simple, leaving a, what I assume, smaller range of scores. This year's tasks require creative thinking, to find a solution to a problem. This is similar to the real world of science, where you don't have a given set of instructions. I personally loved almost all of this year's tasks. However, they really should be awarded points based on the difficulty to build and implement. Maybe we could somehow award points based on both categories (how to do the task, and actually making it work)?

I disagree. As a participant last year, I thought that the tasks were VERY difficult to accomplish. However, this year's were even more so, it seems. (I didn't compete this year)

Just wondering, would it be possible to allows the use of devices and motors such as those found in the Lego Mindstorms NXT kit?

I believe so. Mindstorms 2.0 is/was legal, I assume that NXT is also legal (Ah, Mindstorms. Those were the days!)

[illusionist]

Wait, so those were allowed this year?!?!? I don't have a copy of the rules on me, but I think they limit you to only certain electrical componenents, and I think Mindstorms are illegal.

[Flavorflav]

No integrated circuits this year or last year, so no, Mindstorms would not have been legal either year - not the brick, motors or sensors, at least. I guess you could use structural components.

[illusionist]

I think it would be too easy to allow us to use those. Getting close to the ideal time wouldn't be a challenge anymore.

[twototwenty]

Yes, in my opinion, the use of integrated ciruits would make mission way too easy, as you could have the entire thing programed and thus controlled to an unreasonable degree. It would make the whole thing pointless, as what makes mission what it is is the error that will always be there.

[Primate]

Yes, in my opinion, the use of integrated ciruits would make mission way too easy, as you could have the entire thing programed and thus controlled to an unfair degree. It would make the whole thing pointless, as what makes mission what it is is the error that will always be there.

Yeah, the biggest problem would be hooking up an electronic stopwatch to your sandtimer.

No integrated circuits this year or last year, so no, Mindstorms would not have been legal either year - not the brick, motors or sensors, at least. I guess you could use structural components.

Oh, are those the ones with the built in rotation sensors?

[illusionist]

Yes they are. Basically a servo, some gears, and rotation sensors packed into a nice package.

[Dark Sabre]

The older rules that allowed microprocessors also had a broader rule against parallel design. At least at the National level this meant that you couldn't use electronics to time other transfers or act as a fail-safe to let the machine run if something messes up.

Like you couldn't use a timer to make sure the rest of the machine ran after x seconds of sandtimer because you would have two things happening, either of which could trigger the next action in the machine (parallel design). The same way for trying to program fail-safe ways for the machine to continue without having to make a touch. It would all count as parallel design.

So getting perfect time and a reliable device is just as challenging with micro-controllers, I promise you. You still have to hand-tune the machine every time you run it and build reliable transfers.


The RCX system had separate rotation sensors. The RCX motors are pure gearmotors inside.
The NXT system's motors have internal rotation sensors.