2011-2012 Rules

[chalker7]

More thoughts for next year.

How about getting rid of the "rigid plastic" prohibition and just require students to build the rotor blades themselves (which would prohibit commercial propellers).
It would help some of the teams by allowing them to use plastic cups for the blades (thereby reducing cost and complexity). It might also results in more "successful" helicopters.

Anyway, just a thought.....

That raises a couple more questions. Would cutting the blades off of a commercially available propeller and attaching them to a rotor be legal? What about using commercially available plastic that would make for good rotors, but are not necessarily intended for such purposes (like that from a 2L bottle)

[wlsguy]

More thoughts for next year.

How about getting rid of the "rigid plastic" prohibition and just require students to build the rotor blades themselves (which would prohibit commercial propellers).
It would help some of the teams by allowing them to use plastic cups for the blades (thereby reducing cost and complexity). It might also results in more "successful" helicopters.

Anyway, just a thought.....

That raises a couple more questions. Would cutting the blades off of a commercially available propeller and attaching them to a rotor be legal? What about using commercially available plastic that would make for good rotors, but are not necessarily intended for such purposes (like that from a 2L bottle)

This idea comes from seeing some helicopters with plastic rotors when this was a trial event. Commerical rotors (regardless of modification) would need to be prohibited. Plastic from fast food cups and 2l bottles would be ok. I have doubts, if the weight remains at 4g, such a helicopter would be as competitive as one with "built up" blades but it may provide alternatives for teams with limited resources (ie. money).

I'm always concerned with making SO affordable. Well established teams have many old resources but the new teams are a a disadvantage because they don't have a starting point.

[lucwilder42]

In my experience this year, a well built helicopter will fly straight up from where you let it go, or deter from that course maybe a foot or two if there is max torque. This happens mainly because the rotors are balanced well. Obviously helicopters is very different from wright stuff in many respects but I agree with the others on this forum that attribute luck to success. Flight times are virtually the same in a classroom as in a gym, so the excuse of having to face obstacles with no other option is hardly valid. Having tethers would take a lot of the fun out of this event. Yes, it sucks if something gets stuck in the ceiling but that's part of the event. I'm in favor of a bonus for having one rotor or having 20cm rotors like someone else mentioned. The payload bonus sounds appealing too. Just my thoughts.