2010 Southern Maine Robot Track Meet May 1st, 2010 - 9:00 am <<confirmed!>> Auburn Middle School Gymnasium/Cafeteria Sponsored by Auburn's Community Learning Center (CLC) Auburn Middle School
Northern Maine Robot Track Meet May 8th, 2010 9:00 am Field House - Maine Maritime Academy, Castine Sponsored by the Maine Maritime Academy For map & directions: Maine Maritime Academy
The Maine Robot Track Meet is designed to be accessible and affordable for all size teams. We believe a team of one should be able to compete as well as a team of 30.
NOTE!! There are significant changes for 2010, please read and review all events you are entering.
2010 Files: NOTE: Southern Maine Date has not been fixed (says 5/1 on forms) Official Description of the 2010 Track Meet (PPTX 1.0MB) (PDF 900kb) Simple NXT Wheeled Robot (PDF) 2010 Registration File (PDF) Participant and Coach Release Form (PDF)
Payments accepted in the form of check, Purchase Order, or online payment through our MR Shopping Page Each registered child is $35 if received during early registration (until 4/9/2010) or $40 after 4/9. Cost is per child, not per team. This is a benefit for smaller teams, and about the same for teams of 10, when compared to the FIRST LEGO League or other national robotics programs. Each child receives a t-shirt for the event.
Open to all children currently enrolled in grades 3 to 8. Teams must be coached by an adult over 18 who is approved by the school or organization sponsoring the team.
Teams may be of any number of children and each team may compete in one, several, or all of the events. However, each team may only enter seven events (once in each of the seven events, or seven robots in one event, or any combination). If you have lots of robots to compete you will need to register more teams from your group, but the cost is the same. Teams may come from ANY group, family, neighborhood, school, or program.
Each team builds robots (or bridge) before coming to the track meet and pits their creations against the creations of other teams Robots may be either the LEGO RCX or LEGO NXT robots.. Full rules and descriptions are posted above in the Official Description.
The Maine Robot Track Meet is designed to evaluate finished products in the form of robot performance. In this respect it is very much like a track meet. Robots may be of any shape or variety as long as they meet the robot rules.
Programming, individual building styles, team work, or other important aspects are NOT part of the MRTM. All criteria are based on the ability of the robot or construction to perform under specific challenges. The events (we've tried to highlight the changes below):
The slope climber: Build a robot that can climb the steepest slope (up to 80 degrees from horizontal). If more than one robot can make it up the steepest slope, then the fastest to do it wins!(video)
The table clearing mission: Build a robot that can move around a table top without falling off and clear up to 8 empty aluminum cans from the table. This robot must use sensors to identify the edge of the table to keep from falling off. The fastest robot to do this wins! New Event!
The Delivery Mission: Build and program a robot to deliver a LEGO object to a designated location on the field. Score is a combination of time and placement. Changed Field!
The fastest robot: The only goal here is to make a robot that can go straight for 18 feet, pass through a four foot goal, and do it faster than anyone else! Sound easy? Let's see what people come up with.
The strongest robot: Build a robot that can pull a lot of weight! How much? Let's start with 20 pounds and go up to 60 pounds. If more than one can pull 60 pounds for 2 feet, then it will be the one that can do it fastest.
The strongest bridge: Build a non-robotic LEGO bridge that spans 2 feet. Start loading it down with weight (up to 80 pounds) until the bridge fails or you reach 60 pounds. If more than one bridge can hold 80 pounds, then the lightest bridge wins! I put an "Understanding Bridge Stresses" here
Ping Pong Shot Put: Build a stationary robot that can deliver ping pong balls to a pair of receiving bins 1 meter away. Deliver as many as possible within a 30 second trial. Changed (video)
Robot Speed Build: Build a standard "treadbot" robot or the NXT Simple Wheeled Robot using Maine Robotic parts (every competitor gets a bucket with the parts) in as little time as possible. Sorry the RCX is no longer in this event!
There will be trophies for each of the 8 events as well as an overall meet champion trophy. Each participant will receive a t-shirt for participating in the program.