Carry Your Books

Your robot needs to be able to leave your home in the morning, carry your books for you to school, and drop them off in your locker at the end of the day before returning home. This will do wonders for your back, as it has been proven that carrying too many books can be harmful to your back.

In this event, teams must design and program a robot that will pick up a ping-pong ball (your books), move forward and drop it into the center of a roll of masking tape (80 mm in diameter and 48 mm in height). The roll of masking tape represents your locker. The robot should be programmed to stop and release the ping-pong ball when it reaches the roll of tape, return to the black start line and stop. Scoring will be based on successful completion of all parts of the challenge and speed. You may use three motors for this competition.

Judging procedure:

1. One team will compete at a time.
2. Vehicles should begin with the edge of their front-most wheel on the black start/finish line. However, if vehicles have been programmed so that they must begin with their light sensor slightly in front of the black start/finish line, then this is permitted.
3. A ping-pong ball should be placed directly in front of the vehicle, secured lightly with a piece of tape if necessary to keep it in place. If the tape is not working, the referee will be allowed to hold the ping-pong ball in place.
4. Students should press the red “On” button on their vehicle and set their vehicle to the proper program.
5. On the judge's mark, students will push the green “Run” button and timing will begin.
6. The vehicle should be programmed to move forward until it reaches the roll of masking tape (80 mm in diameter and 48 mm in height). It should then release the ping-pong ball into the center of a roll of masking tape.
7. The vehicle should then be programmed to return to the black start/finish line and stop.
8. Record the time on the rubric and calculate the score using the rubric.
9. When the event is finished, determine the top 3 scores and return the results sheet to the scorers’ table. In the event of a tie for one of the places, the faster time will determine the winner.

Rubric: