Follow the Leader

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Follow the leader exposes the team to robot-human interaction.

Mission Objective

The human "driver" must guide the robot to complete a pre-determined maze.

Figure 1 Guiding the robot through the maze.

Race Rules

The robot must pass an inspection before the race starts to ensure no construction rules have been violated. The robot team will have a chance to make modifications before the race starts.
When commanded, the robot driver will press the green "run" button and the clock will start.
The robot "driver" must guide the robot through the maze by placing a light source in front of the robot.
Each robot's run is timed from the time the run button is hit to the time the maze is completed.

Robot Construction

The robot must be less than 11 inches long including any extensions.
The robot must be less than 10 inches wide.
The robot must use pieces from a standard Lego Mindstorm Robotics Invention System 1.5.
The robot must be programmed using RCX code programming.
Once started, the robot must be completely autonomous.

Violations

Major Infractions

When a major infraction occurs, the robot must be restarted from the beginning of the track without stopping the clock.

Once the robot is moving, there can be no human intervention until the robot completes the task.
Losing pieces while the robot is running the race.
If an error occurs and it appears the robot will not finish the race.

Minor infractions

None.

Determining the winner

The robot and driver with the shortest time, after violations, is declared the winner.

In case of a tie, the tied contestants are allowed a run-off. The racer with the shortest run-off time is declared the winner regardless of their initial time.

Play field

Materials

Any number of Lego Mindstorms boxes.

Construction

Lay the boxes out in any fashion and decide the path that the robot must follow.