Rule Clarifications

Elementary School Competition 2014 (Updated 20140430)

General Questions (Updated 20140219)

Question (20140219): Is the May challenge only for NXT robots or can VEX and VEX IQ compete in any of the challenges?

Answer: We will allow any robot to compete as long as they are autonomously run. This will allow schools to continue their VEX and VEX IQ programs.

The only exception is the pompom challenge, which can use the remote control.

Challenge #1: Maze (Updated )

Challenge #2: Beanbag Challenge (Updated 20140430)

Question (20140410): Is the inside of the pvc pipes the playing field? Meaning, if the bean bags get pushed or dropped outside of the pvc pipes, but still touches it, does that count or is it out of bounds?

Answer: As long as it is touching the pipe (and not the robot), then it counts.

Question (20140429): Just curious- with the bean bag challenge, can the robot be picked up and placed back at the starting point? If yes, can the student then select start on the robot a second and third time? Our VEX IQ team is programming their robot and were wondering if it could be restarted several times.

Answer: Unfortunately, it is a one time deal. Think of it like the weight lifting challenges where the weights get progressively heavier and the highest score is kept.

Question (20140430): For the bean bag push: Can the bot go over the PVC pipe and get to its destination and not be considered an illegal move? One of their bots just did that and was still able to reach one of the PVC pipes with the bean bags.

Answer: So it climbs over the pipes and goes around? As cool as that is, I'm going to say "no" because the challenge is to try and do that left turn for more points.

Challenge #3: Pom-Pom Challenge (Updated 20130917)

Rule Change #1: Green pompoms are worth 5 points each in the high goal. (Previously, they were worth 3 points each.) (20130917)

Rule Change #2: Robots may be controlled by sensors or computers, but can not be touched directly by the student. Also, robot can be placed anywhere, even touching the PVC pipe. (20130917)