CONQUEROR OF THE HILL

2. CONQUEROR OF THE HILL TEANJ Annual Applied Physics and Engineering Competition for High School Students

3. Each year the competition focuses on designing and building a “robot” made from common household items designed to complete a specific task on the playing field of a plywood hill.

4. YOUR ULTIMATE GOAL • To Score as many points as possible!!

5. To Score Bring as many of the twelve plastic balls into your scoring zone as you can AND Hang as many of the nine plastic rings on the pegs as you can

6. The basic set up.

7. The Complete Objective(as stated on the website) • This year’s project may be initially loaded with up to nine plastic carnival bottle rings that are to be delivered to three horizontal pegs sticking out of a vertically hung board. The board is placed above the center of the top of the hill. During the 15 second match the project may also retrieve, from a horizontal platform placed at the top of the hill, up to twelve plastic balls with Velcro “HOOK” strips, and bring them back to a scoring zone on the project’s side of the hill.

8. Every team will use the same list of materials to construct their projects. The advantage in winning the competition usually goes to the team with a sturdy design, ingenious use of materials and clever scoring strategies both offensive and defensive.

9. This is a head-to-head competition where two teams at a time compete against one another on the same hill, incorporating both offensive and defensive strategies in the design of their robot.

10. See the Conqueror of the Hill website for a complete list of the stuff that you may use www.conquerorofthehill.com Materials

11. Projects must be designed only from this specific list of materials. No substitutes are allowed. It is not necessary to use all of the materials. Painting or coloring materials, and adding decals are allowed for decorative purposes only.  • Twenty wooden popsicle sticks up to 3/8"wide x 6"long x 1/8" thick (Not tongue depressors) • One mechanical timer/clock (an egg timer or a sand hour glass timer would be consistent with this description) • Two paper towel tubes • Twelve Cd’s (any size) • Six round balloons not larger than 10” diameter per package description (Only air may be used to inflate the balloons) • Four Cans with or without plastic lids (any size) • Four Plastic 1 liter (or smaller) soda/drink/water bottles with caps (bottles may not be charged/pressurized) • Twenty Rubber bands #64 or smaller (no substitutions 2 smaller for 1 larger) • Six Mouse traps (Only Victor Style -- No Sticky adhesive or plastic have-a-hearts) • Two Hacksaw Blade (not longer than 12” long) • Two 1 gallon size Ziploc type bags or smaller • One 12” X 24” X1/4” piece of Plywood (any grade and luan is allowable) • One 12” X24” X up to 1/4” thick project foam board • Eight rubber or cork stoppers (or combinations up to eight total) • Three Wire coat hangers (type that a dry cleaners would use to hang your cleaned shirts) • Up to four feet of 1/2” wooden dowel • Up to four feet of 1/4” wooden dowel • One 12-foot piece of string (1/8" or less in diameter. Starting string must be made from this string) • Six Sewing thread spools (wood, plastic or Styrofoam) • Eight Plastic 35mm film containers & lids (only containers that film is sold in, not specialty items from a camera shop) • Twenty four square inches of Velcro (hooks -- one side of the velcro) • Twenty four square inches of Velcro (loops -- the other side of the velcro) • Eight circular ceramic magnets up to 1 and 1/2” diameter/length and 1/2” thick • 100 square inches of sandpaper (any mixture of grits 40 and above that adds up to 100 square inches) • Tape, glue or cement (Solder is not allowed) • Forty eight square inches of Duct tape • Ten paper clips (When unfolded the paper clip consists of a single piece of metal wire less than 6 inches long and no larger than 18 gauge (approximately 1 mm) diameter) • Any hardware to include but not limited to eye screws, eye bolts, hinges, screws, bolts, nuts, washers not over 3” in overall length/diameter. Larger hardware may be purchased but must be modified to meet these dimensional specifications. Theaded holes and shafts can not be larger than 1/4" • Rocks, stones or mineral granules (i.e. – sand, salt, etc)

12. Teams consist of 1-3 Madison high school students

13. Projects must meet very specific criteria: • The entire project must be able to fit in the starting guides prior to release. Pay close attention to the maximum dimensions. • Project must be able to be started by a single string. • Projects cannot exceed a maximum mass.

14. Ball Score 1 point will be awarded for each ball that “totally or partially” enters the space above project’s scoring zone.  • The balls must be visible to the judges without having to remove any projects parts from the hill.

15. Ring Score 2 points will be awarded to each ring that “surrounds” a peg. • The ring may or may not be in contact with the project at the end of the 15 second match. • “Surrounds” means that the peg must be totally or partially within the inner diameter of the ring. • The ring does not necessarily have to be supported by the peg, or even touch the peg

16. The Maximum 30!! All 9 rings on the pegs (2 points each) AND All 12 balls in your zone (1 point each)

17. The matches • Teams will compete in conference “matches” that are made up of two “rounds.” • Teams will switch positions on the hill for each round. • The total of each team’s match scores will be added and the winner of the round will be that team that has the highest total match score.

18. It’s all about the Process! • Brainstorming • Sketching • Gathering materials • Building • Testing • Troubleshooting and Rebuilding • SCORING!

19. PEMO Due Dates: PEMO A Clearly stated description of objective and criteria details, team chosen and journal started Wednesday, 12/12/07 PEMO B Initial brainstorming of ideas documented in journal, daily log kept in journal Monday, 12/17/07 PEMO C Three forms of research, including interview of past COH participants, in journal Monday, 12/20/07 PEMO D Scale drawing of PEMO with materials clearly labeled, full scale acceptable Thursday, 1/15/08 PEMO E Construction of PEMO completed and project initial testing and troubleshooting written in journal Friday, 1/11/08 PEMO F Final evaluation of PEMO and journal Wednesday, 1/16/08

20. Grading Rubric How will this robot be graded? What should you strive for?

21. Drive System • Clever device utilized, powerful, consistent, unique approach to problem, stored power utilized in moving project

22. Movement to top of hill Successful, consistent, high speed, able to repeatedly perform task

23. Design and Manufacturing of project Carefully designed, excellent construction, good attention to detail, sturdy

24. Effort and Dedication Daily effort in school and out to continue progress in positive direction, successful brainstorming and troubleshooting evidence cited in journal and witnessed in school trials

25. Specifications Compliance Mass under 1.0 kg Smaller than maximum dimensions Single starting string effective

26. Proper material used • All materials adhere to list given

27. Alpha phase project completion • First approach to project completed and brought in on January 11th

28. BEGIN TODAY • Plan your group • Carefully read through the website • Write a summary of the specifications