FAQ
Woots & Snarks
- Q: Can the vehicle get larger than the 8.5" x 11" x 11" cube once it starts moving?
A: The vehicle must be not larger than the 8.5” x 11” x 11” cube before the round begins. What it does after this is entirely up to you.
- Q: What is the material of the matboard? Will the students have a chance to "try out the course" before the day of the contest?
A: This is the same mat board used to make the mats around a picture in a frame. It can be purchased at most stationary or art supply places.
- Q: How big is the flat area outside of the 40 x 64 rectangle? (How far out of the rectangle can the vehicle go before it falls off the field of play??)
A: The event is played on the floor. I suppose it could be elevated for greater effect, but regardless of this point the vehicles wheels, treads or means of locomotion cannot leave the rectangle.
- Q: What parts can be used to build the vehicle? Do they have to be "official" Legos mindstorm robotic parts? Can they add anything that is not in the kit? More sensors? Parts for an RC car store? String? Other legos parts not in the kit?
A: The parts have to be made by LEGO in order to be eligible. However, any LEGO part from the past or present is useable.
- Q: It states 8 wires max. Does each motor/sensor have one or two wires? Is a light sensor with a connected wire a "wire"?
A: We define “a wire” as a standard LEGO wire of any length with two 2x2 connection tabs at either end. A typical arrangement of a wire would be one tab connected to a motor and the other to an output port on the RCX. A light sensor is considered a wire.
- Q: The rules state "Robots can only be touched prior to starting a round" It also states "Touching your Robot outside your base--1 pt" First, what is a "base", Second, does this mean the robot can be touched at a cost of 1 pt? Where on the playing surface can it be touched? Does this mean the team can re-aim the robot at an assigned object at a cost of 1 pt??
A: Sorry. . .that’s a typo. There isn’t a base in the version of Woots & Snarks you are playing. You cannot touch your robot during a round under any circumstances
- Q: How many points do they get for pushing out each of their assigned objects? What happens if they push out the "other color" objects?? Is there a penalty??
A: A player gets +1 point for each can of their assigned color pushed out of the ring and -1 point for each can of the opposing color pushed out of the ring.
- Q: What is the definition of "outside the playing field"? Can any part of the can touch the line? Can the wall of the can overhang the line?
A: The can must be completely outside the line to be counted.
- Q: How many black and white cans are on the field? Is there an equal number of both?
A: There are 8 cans total - 4 white, 4 black.
- Q: Will there be a black line outlining (on the outer edge) of the mat? Will this be made from the electrical tape?
A: Yes, their will be at least a 3/4" black line along the outer edge made from black electrical or black masking tape.
Freeform Challenge
- Q: What is the penalty for going outside of the 6 foot square?
A: There isn’t a penalty. This is just a playing field boundary for organizational purposes. We would like to encourage teams to stay within this boundary if possible.
- Q: The rules state "the team may pick up its robot a limit of 2 times without a penalty", it also says "Pick-up penalty -5 points". Does this mean the first two "pickups" have no penalty and every subsequent pickup costs 5 points?
A: Yes it does.
- Q: It states the theme is "space exploration", but in the scoring section it talks about themes involving "amusement park, historical event, geographic site". We are confused exactly what the theme is.
A: The theme for 2005 is space exploration.
- Q: Do you get the 10 points for "each task successfully completed in the order the task appears on the teams script" and 50 points for "accomplishing the 8 tasks according to plan" independent of complexity?? Making a "single beep" is a lot easier than "cross a 3" wide gap". Do they both get 10 points if executed correctly?
A: That is correct. These are objective tasks.
- Q: How are the "use of lego to express this years theme" 20 points; and "the team conducts the challenge according to a theme" 50 points judged? What does it take to get the 20 and 50 points?
A: That depends. These are subjective tasks and the points awarded are determined by the judges. Making a “single beep” will not earn you as many points as “crossing a 3” gap”.
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