C.R.A.W.LAB

The Master Plan

MCHE 470 – Robot Contest

The Master Plan Campus Figure 1: The Campus

When: Thursday, November 21st, 4:30pm
Where: Rougeou Hall Room 332
RSVP: By 11/20 to Dr. Joshua Vaughan

Recently, the University of Louisiana at Lafayette has developed a Master Plan for the improvement and expansion of the campus. The plan has great promise, and some projects are already underway, but there will be numerous hurdles to overcome during its adoption. Luckily, MCHE 470 students have designed and built robots to help the University overcome these hurdles. You are invited to evaluate these robots and witness a competition among them.

The Competition

On November 21, beginning at 4:30pm, the Master Plan contest will be held in Rougeou Hall, room 332. There will be two events.

Design Review:

A panel of judges will perform a design review of each machine. The teams must describe their machines quickly and clearly to the judges that visit, who will evaluate each team on aesthetics, ingenuity, and presentation.

The Master Plan:

The student robots will compete in a head-to-head competition on the campus shown in Figure 1. The robots have one minute to remove project delays, deposit alumni donations, collect “Whale” donor support, and collect community support.

Competition Details

The student robots have to:

Remove Project Delays: In any major endeavor there are a large number of factors that can delay completion. In each zone of the campus, there are two project delays (sponges) that must be removed. For each delay that is not completely removed, teams will be penalized -10 points. If the delay is only partially removed, the team will be penalized -5 points.

Deposit Alumni Donations: The robots must also deposit alumni donations into the Master Plan fundraising account. This account has two methods of deposit, one of which has a high return on investment (ROI) and one of which has a low ROI. Teams will be given three donations (squash balls) to deposit into the account. Each deposit into the high ROI account is worth 10 points. Each deposit into the low ROI account is only worth 5 points.

Collect “Whale” Donor Support: Alumni support is not enough to fund the entire Master Plan. Larger donations are needed. There are four whales (plastic bowling pins) on campus that can be convinced to donate to the Master Plan. For each one that is completely collected into their zone, teams will earn 5 points. However, if a team does a great job convincing the “Whale” to support the plan (the pin is moved into their zone and is still upright), the team will earn 15 points.

Collect Community Support: Community support of the Master Plan will be a key ingredient to its success. There are numerous community members (squash balls) that can be gathered into booster areas. For each community member completely collected into the booster area, teams will earn 5 points.

Acknowledgements

SparkFun Electronics was kind enough to give a substantial discount on the robot kits used in this class. We are grateful for their support.

For more information, see the full set of competition rules. A pdf of this invitation is also avaiable.