The Contest

For the 2007 competition the objective is to outscore your opponent within a 45 second time period. There are three ways to score points: the bottom bin, either of the top "0" bins, or by moving the arrow. The scoring algorithm gives more points for pucks than for balls, and multiplies your scores for the bottom bin, top bins, and arrow together in order to get the final score. The final contest is a single elimination tournament, so students must design for repeatability and robustness in order to make it through a possible 8 rounds without any major failures.

The Robot

Each student starts with the same materials and machine tools, and is then given the semester to design and manufacture a robot. The robot must be within certain size and weight limits, and must be safe enough that "you must be comfortable entering a phone booth with it while naked." The goal is to have a finished robot by the competition time that reflects the original design and functions properly.