Satellite Snatch 2008
Objective: To retrieve three objects from the middle of a rectangular table using a constructed device while competing against an opponent.
Construction:
1) Elementary / Middle (Grades 5-9): The three items to be retrieved will be tennis balls. One will be placed at the center of the table, with the other two 20 cm to either side along the table's short axis.
1) High School (Grades 10-12): Same as the above except that ping-pong balls will be used.
2) The device will be made entirely out of plastic straws, rubber (bungee cords acceptable), string, wood, cardboard, paper, glue, and tape. Nails and screws and similar metal fasteners may also be used, but other metal or plastic materials are not allowed.
3) The mass of the entire device may not exceed 1000 grams.
4) The entire device must fit inside a 60 cm cube when in its starting position.
Competition:
1) Before each trial, each contestant will set up his/her device within a 3 minute interval at opposite ends of the long table. Before being activated, no part of the device may extend beyond the starting line for that contestant. The starting line will be placed 35 cm from the center line where the three tennis/ping-pong balls are located. The device may not be attached to the table in any way, but the contestants may hold it in place.
2) During a trial, the contestants may touch their device to start or trigger its motion, or to aim its direction, but the energy to make it move towards the balls or to pull the balls back must be stored in the device. At no time may a contestant push or move any part of the device over that team's start line; any such motion must be powered by the device itself.
3) Important: the balls must not leave the table. If any ball flies or slides off the table, the judges will determine which machine was responsible and award that ball to the other side. The machine ruled "responsible" is not necessarily the last machine to touch the ball. If a ball leaves the table after it has been retrieved past its own start line, then no penalty will be given.
4) At the judge's signal, a 15 second timed trial will begin and each side will try to retrieve two (or three) of the balls to their side of the table. After the judge's signal, no additional energy may be supplied to the device for that trial. Important: This is a one activation per round competition, there is to be no "resetting" of the device after a first attempt.
It is intended that the contestant's devices will retrieve the balls from the center of the table under their own power, using only stored elastic and / or gravitational energy. Any device deemed by the judges to be unsafe in any way will be disqualified.
**POWER TOOLS MAY NOT BE USED TO REPAIR DEVICES ON THE DAY OF COMPETITION**
Judging:
1) To win a trial, the contestant's device must cause two or three balls to move closer to their own start line than to the opponent's line. Specifically: if one side moves two balls towards its own machine, that side wins even if the other side moves the third ball a greater distance. Exceptions: 1) if only one ball moves, then the direction of its motion will determine the winner of that trial, and 2) if each side succeeds in moving only one ball, then the ball which moves the greater distance perpendicular to the center line will determine the winner. Ball movement caused by table vibration will not countr; the ball must be touched by one or both machines. A ball that is "pushed" towards the opponenet's start line will be awarded to the opponent.
2) The winner of each match will be determined by success in two out of three trials, and the winners will advance in an elimination style tournament. The contestants will be seeded by random draw at the beginning of the competition.
3) Since both devices are reaching for the same objects, some contact between them is expected. If one device is damaged by the other, such damage will be considered accidental unless the judge rules that the effect was intentional, in which case the offending side will be disqualified.
Judge: James Schafer / Montgomery Blair High School
http://montgomeryschoolsmd.org/schools/woottonhs/Science/finalfront/
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