Hovercraft B/C

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Re: Hovercraft B/C

Post by Luo »

Unome wrote:That's what I'm talking about. It was ~2 minutes for 2 teams (though a lot more got 2 teams, I figure a lot of schools dropped) and ~40 minutes until they closed registration.
It is not the case that a lot of schools dropped - we (by which I mean Science Olympiad at MIT) "close" confirmed registration after fewer teams have registered (say, 50) than there are spots in the tournament (see 7th bullet point at http://scioly.mit.edu/tournament-inform ... ies-rules/). We do this because at the time registration opens we do not yet have a complete list of the MIT classrooms we'll be able to use, so we initially accept teams conservatively to avoid overcrowding in case we are allocated fewer classrooms than we want. This year there ended up being 20 schools that brought 2 teams to the tournament, and there were a handful of teams whose registrations we were unfortunately not able to accept because we hit a hard limit on space.
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Re: Hovercraft B/C

Post by geniusjohn5 »

Will something like this work Hovercraft LIFT and Hovercraft PROPULSION (pushing the hovercraft forward)?
http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Ada ... oCp6fw_wcB
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Re: Hovercraft B/C

Post by Ashernoel »

At wright state yesterday hovercraft became a trial event. I heard this happened at Cornell as well, but does anybody know why?
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Re: Hovercraft B/C

Post by Skink »

Some tournaments are having difficulty getting anyone's devices (which have been tested and do work) to move on the surfaces allocated for the activity. The finer points of this are beyond me, but I could see tournaments with team awards throwing it out if this happened there.
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Re: Hovercraft B/C

Post by windu34 »

Ashernoel wrote:At wright state yesterday hovercraft became a trial event. I heard this happened at Cornell as well, but does anybody know why?
The test at cornell was ridiculously hard and did not follow the rules so I think a lot of teams arbitrated
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Re: Hovercraft B/C

Post by mwilsoncrist »

Apparently there was an appeal at Wright State, largely due to rules violation of the track(s).

The track for the B event was shortened to less than the 130 cm requirement in the rules, and there was an apparent uphill portion. near the finish line. This after the original tables on which they mounted the rails had a dip, and the first craft that ran got stuck between one of the rails and the table. Due to the issue with the B track, the ES apparently decided to change the C track as well. All of this took place during the first test block. Many of the competitors also had to catch their craft at the end of the track so the craft didn't hit the floor due to the table length. That certainly made for some nervous hovercraft coaches.

When we ran a hovercraft event for an invitational, we used a 15.5-inch-wide by 8-foot-long piece of melamine shelving board (purchased at Lowes) and screwed the metal studs to that. That removed the potential for crafts getting stuck under the rails, and dips in any tables that we laid the track across, particularly since we did not know the layout of the room before the event.

I certainly hope they get the bugs worked out before Nationals. It cost us a higher overall ranking since both our hovercraft teams were in the top 10.
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Re: Hovercraft B/C

Post by sciolycoach »

Hello,

I'll share a bit more here, but you are pretty much spot on. I helped with Hovercraft yesterday and the tables we requested were warped (they were plastic banquet tables) in the middle causing cars to go down hill and then uphill and get stuck. Realizing this, during the first time block we *quickly* tried to move the tracks over to the only other tables that were available in the room, and these tables were not long enough for the Div B length OR the Div C length that had been announced. As we were, by this time, *veryquickly* trying to move the tracks over to the new tables and put tables together to adjust we realized the tables, despite looking very similar, were not the same heights due to adjustable legs. It was getting near the end of the first time block by this time so a decision was made to go with a shorter track. Remember, this was an invitational tournament and much was learned for nationals. As my team was coming from such a long ways away it was not feasible to bring a nice homemade setup like others have described for an invitational but I am sure some type of design will be constructed for nationals...in fact discussions were already taking place Saturday afternoon.

I want to give a huge thank you to the team of volunteers who worked hard in a tough situation to try to get everything through and help everyone learn through the process. They did an OUTSTANDING job even when thrown several curve balls that I am sure will get addressed for nationals. Better to happen now than in May!
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Re: Hovercraft B/C

Post by chalker »

sciolycoach wrote:Hello,

I'll share a bit more here, but you are pretty much spot on. I helped with Hovercraft yesterday and the tables we requested were warped (they were plastic banquet tables) in the middle causing cars to go down hill and then uphill and get stuck. Realizing this, during the first time block we *quickly* tried to move the tracks over to the only other tables that were available in the room, and these tables were not long enough for the Div B length OR the Div C length that had been announced. As we were, by this time, *veryquickly* trying to move the tracks over to the new tables and put tables together to adjust we realized the tables, despite looking very similar, were not the same heights due to adjustable legs. It was getting near the end of the first time block by this time so a decision was made to go with a shorter track. Remember, this was an invitational tournament and much was learned for nationals. As my team was coming from such a long ways away it was not feasible to bring a nice homemade setup like others have described for an invitational but I am sure some type of design will be constructed for nationals...in fact discussions were already taking place Saturday afternoon.

I want to give a huge thank you to the team of volunteers who worked hard in a tough situation to try to get everything through and help everyone learn through the process. They did an OUTSTANDING job even when thrown several curve balls that I am sure will get addressed for nationals. Better to happen now than in May!
Yes, we mostly definitely will have tracks with solid, flat, level bases and the 2x4 side rails pre-affixed to them moving forward for the Ohio State Tournament and WSU National Tournament.

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Re: Hovercraft B/C

Post by giyu123 »

Hey, guys. Me and my partner built a hovercraft, and it works great, except when we put the shield on (which unfortunately is a requirement). Any ideas on how to reduce shield weight?
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Re: Hovercraft B/C

Post by Elastaro »

giyu123 wrote:Hey, guys. Me and my partner built a hovercraft, and it works great, except when we put the shield on (which unfortunately is a requirement). Any ideas on how to reduce shield weight?
For me, fan grills worked out very well (about $5 on Amazon). They do reduce the fan output, but not significantly. I've seen other teams use plastic screen/mesh material, but personally I think fan grills are easier to deal with.
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