The Design Competition will be held from 10:00 AM to noon on 28 November in the atrium of the Engineering Building, 1930 SW Fourth Avenue. Introductory slides provide an overview of the assignment.
Objective
Build a device that "rescues" a Lego minifigure from a toy tower and places the minifigure in a toy stretcher. Figure 1 is a photograph of a minifigure at the top of the tower.
The rescue device is to be assembled from repurposed parts of a disassembled ink-jet printer, a motor controller supplied by the MME department, and any additional parts the team chooses to purchase or fabricate.
Playing Field
Figure 2 is a top view of the playing field, which rests on the competition table. Figure 3 is a solid model of the playing field. The toy tower and stretcher are fabricated from ABS pipe and 3D printed parts. The tower assembly is held together by epoxy.
The playing field is a painted piece of 1/2 inch thick plywood that is 48 inches wide by 30 inches long. The 30 inch length matches the width of the competition table. The tower assembly and the stretcher are secured to the plywood board by screws.
Download a zip archive of solid models for the game field.
Rules
Version 1.00 of the rules can be downloaded with this link.
Scoring
| 20 points | Time to complete the rescue operation | |
| 20 points | Accuracy of landing Lego minifigure in the stretcher. | |
| 15 points | Cost of parts in the BOM | |
| 15 points | Automation | |
| 15 points | Total weight | |
| 15 points | Judges score for craftsmanship, innovation and aesthetics |
Details of the scoring are described in the complete rule document.
Pit Area Provided
In addition to the competition table, there will be tables available in a pit area where teams can set up, adjust, repair or otherwise modify their device. However, teams should have their device ready to run at the start of the competition.
Working with a hacked ink-jet printer
Each team is a provided a (somewhat random) ink-jet printer salvaged from Free Geek. To help the team turn the printer into a rescue device, each team is provided with some additional supplies and guidance
- TB6612 motor controller
- Demonstration of a hacked ink-jet printer
- Slides and notes on using a joystick to control two DC motors