1.1 Eligibility and Teams
Anyone may
enter a robot.
There is no
limit on team size.
In the rest
of this document, the term “team” means either the group or the
individual associated with a robot entered in the contest.
1.2 Multiple Entries and Kits
The
challenge presented by the Trinity College Fire-Fighting Home Robot
Contest (TCFFHRC) and the associated regional contests is for
contestants to prepare a unique robot of their own design. However, we
recognize that some teams may wish to enter a kit-based robot, a
commercial robot, or a robot that shares many design features with
another robot entered in the contest. Therefore in 2009 we will award
prizes to two categories (kit robots and unique robots) in the Junior,
High-School, and Senior Divisions. The Walking, HOF, and RoboWaiter
Divisions will not have separate kit/unique categories.
A team may
enter more than one robot, but to qualify for a unique-robot prize each
robot must differ visibly and significantly from other robots in at
least some aspects of electronics or mechanics. Thus an individual, team
or school may not register multiple identical robots as separate entries
in the same Division except in the kit category.
Multiple,
possibly identical, robots that function as a swarm may be entered in
the Trinity College House-on-Fire Expert Robot Event. Those robots may
not be entered as separate robots in other Divisions.
1.2.1 Guidelines for Kit and Unique Robots
Each team
must indicate whether their robot is a kit robot or a unique robot, with
characteristics as listed below, when registering it for the contest.
Note that paint, stickers, and other non-functional components will not
transform a kit robot into a non-kit robot.
1.2.1.1 Kit Robots
1. May be constructed primarily from a single commercial kit, or
2. Share mechanical design with another robot – even if is not
commercial, or
3. Share other major features with another robot
In cases 2
and 3 above, both of the similar robots will be considered as
kit robots.
1.2.1.2 Unique robots
1. Are constructed from a unique assortment of parts
2. May use some components from a kit, but the overall design is
unique.
1.3 Deadline
If you do
not register between February 1 and March 20 (midnight to midnight),
your robot will not be in the contest. There are no exceptions.
You have
spent hundreds of hours and perhaps as many dollars on your robot.
Register early!
1.4 On-line Registration
Registration for the TCFFHRC is available only on line through this
website. We will accept registration applications from 12:00 a.m. on
February 1, 2009 to 11:59 p.m. on March 20, 2009. For further details
stay tuned to this website.
Steps in registration process are as follows:
1. Go to the registration web site at
http://www. trincoll.edu/events/robot/Registration/default.asp .
2. Create a user ID and password and set up the rest of the account
information.
3. Fill in all of the required information.
4. The contact person provided on the form will receive email
confirmation of your successful registration within three days.
1.5 Fees
A
non-refundable registration fee is required for each robot entered into
the contest. The fee must accompany each entry.
If you want
to enter two robots, then you must build two robots: the same physical
robot cannot be entered twice, even if two entry fees are paid.
We repeat:
registration fees are non-refundable.
The Division fees for 2009 are as follows:
Junior $60
Walking $75
High School $70
Senior $80
Expert $125.
1.6 Adult Assistance
The
division structure makes the event more enjoyable for students, but it
opens up an area of possible conflict. The problem occurs when a group
consisting of people both in and out of school enters a robot in the
Junior or High School Division.
The Judges
will decide whether a given robot has been entered in the correct
Division based on both the robot’s capabilities and the team’s
abilities.
For
example, consider a second-grade student who enters a microprocessor
controlled, stepper motor driven robot that uses modulated IR sensing
and a video navigation system. The control program seems to be written
in C++ and the student’s parents just happen to work for NASA. This
robot would be reclassified in the Senior division.
Normally a
robot created by a group of 6th and 7th grade students with an adult
advisor would enter the Junior Division. Such students may also have the
ability and skill to build and program the robots that may be entered
into the Junior and High School Divisions.
This does
not mean that the students have to do everything, i.e., mechanics,
hardware, electronics, software completely on their own. On the other
hand, we do not want to see an advisor spending hours upon hours writing
and debugging a student’s software. We are less concerned about the role
of an adult who helps a team of college students since the team would
enter the Senior Division, which is open to everyone.
Adults
helping students is perfectly OK; that’s how students learn.
Adults
taking over the project is not; that’s how student learn to cheat.
As far as
the students are concerned, the goal of the contest should be education,
not winning. We know that the students (sometimes desperately) want to
win, but their adult mentors must allow them to compete, win or lose, on
their own merits.
This
contest runs on the honor system, but we expect that the student
contestants bear primary responsibility for their robots. Should we find
any case to the contrary, we will reassign the robot to a more
appropriate Division. In these cases the decision of the Chief Judge is
final.
1.7 Construction Schedule
Teams
should build their robots and bring them to the contest ready to run:
this is not a construction contest where you build robots at
the event!
Trinity
will provide limited time and space for last minute changes,
adjustments, and improvements. However, the robots should be completed
(or very nearly so) by the time they get here.
1.8 Qualification Trials and Elimination Rounds
As an
experiment, for the 2009 contest we have eliminated qualification
trials. Every team registered for the contest will have the chance to
run their robot on Sunday.
However, we
have adopted the following rule for the 2009 High School and Senior
Divisions: To qualify for a third trial in the competition, a robot must
put out the candle at least once during the first two trials. Thus the
first two rounds of the regular competition serve as elimination rounds.
1.9 Location, Dates, and schedule
TCFFHRC
events will be held at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, USA, on
Saturday & Sunday, 4-5 April 2009.
The full
schedule of events for the contest weekend will be posted on the website
at
http://www.trincoll.edu/events/robot/.
Chapter
2 Basic Rules
