SOSI 2016: AMA (Ask Me Anything at the Summer Institute)

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Re: SOSI 2016: AMA (Ask Me Anything at the Summer Institute)

Post by dcrxcode »

How close are the remote sensing rules to the draft rules they released for nationals?

https://www.soinc.org/sites/default/fil ... 9-4-15.doc

Also, for microbe mission, have they (or are they going to) release a set of microorganisms to study like they did in the past?

Thanks so much!

Edit: Thanks bernard for pointing out my mistake!
Last edited by dcrxcode on July 18th, 2016, 10:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: SOSI 2016: AMA (Ask Me Anything at the Summer Institute)

Post by calvin102111 »

Has anything from wind power really changed? Like, have parameters, what we are researching, etc. been adjusted?
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Re: SOSI 2016: AMA (Ask Me Anything at the Summer Institute)

Post by bernard »

dcrxcode wrote:Also, for cell biology, have they (or are they going to) release a set of microorganisms to study like they did in the past?
Cell Biology is tentatively not returning. Perhaps you are thinking of Microbe Mission, which should have a list released on the national website.
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Re: SOSI 2016: AMA (Ask Me Anything at the Summer Institute)

Post by SOPomo »

kenniky wrote:Chemistry Lab: will they still have that pollution/greenhouse gas part in the rules?
I don't know what last year's looked like, but this year is half Gases and half Thermodynamics.
varunscs11 wrote:For rocks and minerals, are they adding any new specimens (at least those different from the 2014 list like kyanite or vermiculite)
For invasive species are they changing anything?
Rocks and Minerals: I don't know a previous list (only going into my third year so) but there are no bold ones in the list which typically indicate changes. There are several changes to the Topics section, however.
dcrxcode wrote:How close are the remote sensing rules to the draft rules they released for nationals?

https://www.soinc.org/sites/default/fil ... 9-4-15.doc

Also, for microbe mission, have they (or are they going to) release a set of microorganisms to study like they did in the past?
Remote sensing looks almost identical to that, with a couple slight changes to 3.b's parentheses.

Microbe Mission does have a list of microbial diseases.
calvin102111 wrote:Has anything from wind power really changed? Like, have parameters, what we are researching, etc. been adjusted?
Looks mostly like clarification of rules where there may have been some uncertainty but nothing huge changes.
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Re: SOSI 2016: AMA (Ask Me Anything at the Summer Institute)

Post by windu34 »

For the electric vehicle bonus, can you clarify how the cans will be placed on the track? How will electric vehicle be scored?
What are the new objects for robot arm? What will be the tiebreakers? Any new constrictions?
Thanks!
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Re: SOSI 2016: AMA (Ask Me Anything at the Summer Institute)

Post by trentomology1999 »

Have there been any changes to the Hydrogeology rules, specifically to parts 2 and 3? Here are the trial rules from a few years ago for comparison, the 2016 official rules are almost unchanged compared to them.

https://goo.gl/UHBV8Q
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Dynamic: 1/6/ /
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Re: SOSI 2016: AMA (Ask Me Anything at the Summer Institute)

Post by SOPomo »

So many div C questions, haha

Reminder: always check these against the official rules when they come out in September.
windu34 wrote:For the electric vehicle bonus, can you clarify how the cans will be placed on the track? How will electric vehicle be scored?
What are the new objects for robot arm? What will be the tiebreakers? Any new constrictions?
Thanks!
EV: It says there's a bonus line at the halfway point of the track. One can is 1m from the center line, and one can is placed by the competitor, and the vehicle goes in between. Score for each run is fun time + distance score - bonus distance + penalties.

Robot arm: an archery target is placed centered north of the device square. Also, stacks of pennies heads up are placed on the edges of the target and also in the southwest corner of the 70x70 area. Scoring is 5 for a bullseye, 1 for the outer circle, 4-3-2 in between. Pennies must be heads up, completely flat, and fully inside the circle for those points. No points if over or under another penny. If they're flat and tails up its double. 2 runs, 3 minutes each. Tiebreaker: 1- shortest sum of competition times, 2- greatest # flat pennies in the target, 3- greatest number total pennies in the target.
trentomology1999 wrote:Have there been any changes to the Hydrogeology rules, specifically to parts 2 and 3? Here are the trial rules from a few years ago for comparison, the 2016 official rules are almost unchanged compared to them.

https://goo.gl/UHBV8Q
Part 3 seems to have changed some of the wording around concerning contaminants and wells pumping water, but I'll see if I can have some of it clarified.
Last edited by SOPomo on July 19th, 2016, 8:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: SOSI 2016: AMA (Ask Me Anything at the Summer Institute)

Post by windu34 »

SOPomo wrote:So many div C questions, haha

Reminder: always check these against the official rules when they come out in September.
windu34 wrote:For the electric vehicle bonus, can you clarify how the cans will be placed on the track? How will electric vehicle be scored?
What are the new objects for robot arm? What will be the tiebreakers? Any new constrictions?
Thanks!
EV: It says there's a bonus line at the halfway point of the track. One can is 1m from the center line, and one can is placed by the competitor, and the vehicle goes in between. Score for each run is fun time + distance score - bonus distance + penalties.
So the one can is placed 1m forward or backwards from the centerline (towards or away from the vehicle start)? Is the can placed by the competitor before or after the stationary can? Are there limitations to how far the can can be placed? Are brushless motors still allowed? Battery restrictions?
SOPomo wrote: Robot arm: a 40cm 5-ring archery target is placed centered 22cm north of the device square. Also, stacks of pennies 10 pennies each heads up are placed on the north, south, east, and west edges of the target and also in the southwest corner of the 70x70 area. Scoring is 5 for a bullseye, 1 for the outer circle, 4-3-2 in between. Pennies must be heads up, completely flat, and fully inside the circle for those points. No points if over or under another penny. If they're flat and tails up its double. 2 runs, 3 minutes each. Tiebreaker: 1- shortest sum of competition times, 2- greatest # flat pennies in the target, 3- greatest number total pennies in the target.
So the only objects are pennies. 5 stacks of 10 so 50 pennies all together correct? What is the rule on passive vs active end effectors?

Sorry for all the questions and thank you once again
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Re: SOSI 2016: AMA (Ask Me Anything at the Summer Institute)

Post by trentomology1999 »

Were there any changes to the contaminants sheet for Hydrogeology? (Forgot to ask this in my first post)

Here is 2015's for reference: https://goo.gl/45260B

And thank you for taking time to answer our questions!
2017 Season
WOSO/Regionals/State/Nationals
Astronomy: 3/2/ /
Dynamic: 1/6/ /
Hydrogeology: 1/1/ /
Remote Sensing: 1/1/ /
Rocks and Mins: 1/1/ /
Team: 4,5/1/ /
Go Grand Haven!!
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Re: SOSI 2016: AMA (Ask Me Anything at the Summer Institute)

Post by ChocolateLove »

So I was doing a few theorhetical calculations on the bonus for EV and I think there may be a sign error or something. Based on the bonus subtracting "0.2 times the distance inbetween the cans to the nearest 0.1 cm" and assuming low score still wins, wouldn't just placing the can as FAR as possible away from the can that is 1 meter from the center line guarantee the bonus to be the greatest and therefore your score to be the lowest? This seems not to be offering an actual challenge as teams will just place the can on the edge of the track every time. Maybe I did my calculations incorrectly but here's my thought process:

Run score = Run time (RT) + Distance Score (DS) - Bonus Score (BS) + Penalties

Low score wins right?

So with an increase in the BS, the overall run score decreases. For the BS to increase, the only variable in the BS is the distance and since we are working with multiplication here (my math teacher would be proud of me for this one) increasing the distance between the cans...

You see where I'm headed again. So can anyone please point out where I'm wrong?
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