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Laundry Quandary
Through a stunning show of perserverance and team spirit, the Sonlight robotics team shines again! Earning many awards on that proud day, we broke many barriers and exceeded many expectations. In the end, we won 2nd place for the game after holding third through most of the game, and won first place in best for a brilliantly designed booth and an astounding show of team spirit. The Sonlight Robotics team will now proceed onto Regionals, beginning December 1. Scroll down for more informati
Storyline
After recent successful missions dealing with medical sciences and satellite repair, BEST Robotics, Inc. (BRI) is returning to earth to launch a new Domestic Division (D2). The D2 is in a prime market position to take advantage of the recent growth in home automation technology. The competitive nature of the fast growing automation market requires the D2 to be extremely responsive and turn out its first product in only six weeks.
Several potential automation products were studied including new products for the existing robot vacuum and robot lawn mower markets. After countless late-night brainstorming sessions and a careful review of potential market penetration, it was determined that a DLHR (domestic laundry-handling robot) would be readily accepted in households around the world.
The initial product offering is intended to simplify laundry handling, while saving energy and providing a fresh outdoor scent to the fabric. The robot to be developed must be able to transport, hang, and retrieve laundry to allow drying an outdoor clothesline.
Shipping and storage requirements dictate that the robot must be within certain size and weight constraints. Consumers dislike having to put together purchased items; therefore, the robot must have require no assembly by the end-user and be ready to use as delivered. Because of business partnerships with existing suppliers, the materials that can be used to construct the robot are severely limited.
The time, material, and performance requirements have left the BRI D2 product development team short-handed on the resources needed to complete the project, so BRI needs external robot development teams to help solve the Laundry Quandary.
Objective
The whole objective of this year's BEST Robotics game is to design and build a remotely controlled robot capable of placing "wet laundry" from inside a laundry basket onto a clotheline, and retrieving "dry laundry" on top of clotheslines to place them in the laundry basket within a three minute time limit.
Events
The first event, the BEST Robotics Kick-Off, took place on Semptember 2. There BEST revealed all the details about the 2006 robotics game, including the theme, the rules, the game field, and many more exciting details. It was also where each of the teams were given their development kits. There are three more events to take place, first being the Mall Day on october 7, where teams turn in their notebooks and have a chance to debut your robot. The next event is the State Competition on October 14-15 at Birdville . This competition determines who will enter the next competition, nationals. The Regionals competition, the final event, will determine the nationals robotics champion and distribute awards for various participating teams. It is set to take place on December 1-2.
Events, time and locations
Mall Day
Date: October 7, 2006
Time: 10:00 AM-2:00 PM
Location: Harwood Terrace Baptist Church
Game Day, State
Date: October 14-15
Time: 10:00 AM-4:00 PM
Location: Birdville High School
Game Day, Regionals
Date: December 1-2
Time: Currently Unknown
Location: Texas Tech University
